The past week and a half.

I was all set to start blogging daily after ArtPrize ended, but then our neighbors' pipes all had to be replaced. And it seems like that shouldn't have affected my blog, but it DID, because as the workers were digging up the entire street (or at least sections of it), one of them - the guy working the backhoe - carelessly took down our phone and internet wires. It would have been annoying no matter what, but the guy who told me was all, "Yeah, so we're just going to cut those wires and they'll come and replace them eventually." I was all, "????" and he said, "Well, we have to cut them, because they're in our way." I was more annoyed by the completely cavalier attitude than anything. Except that then our internet was out for 3 days, and that was also pretty annoying

Anyhow. 

Last week was Beth's birthday. She took the day off work and we spent it taking pictures, picking apples, visiting the Cheese Lady, and walking around Meijer Gardens. Juanito made her a cake that was very fancy and also very slippery - it was falling apart, but it was still cute.

The annual pumpkin walk was this past weekend. We went on Friday, right as it started, which turned out to be a very good plan. We were some of the first people there, and it wasn't quite dark yet, but we had the path mostly to ourselves and it was great. My sister called later and said that they'd gone and left because the line to get onto the path was over an hour long. Crazy!!!

Saturday was the Zombie Dash downtown. Juanito, the kids, Beth, and a few other friends from Zumba all dressed up like zombies and scared the runners. Juanito was completely overboard disgusting and bloody again, as is his habit. Houston gets a little bit bloody, and Zane and Katrina are two of the cleanest zombies there. I think that either i don't understand what zombies are supposed to look like or Juanito doesn't, because what *i* picture is completely different from what he does. I don't think of zombies as being particularly bloody at all, whereas he covers himself from head to foot in fake blood and guts. Regardless, they all had fun. (I had fun staying home and NOT being covered in fake blood.)

Katrina and Beth decided to be "rainbow unicorns" for Halloween, so they've been working on their costumes together. They tie-dyed hoodies and then made horns, ears, manes, and tails and safety pinned them all together. (They were going to sew them together, but Katrina was all, "I want to be able to wear this hoodie after Halloween!" so they went the safety pin route, which was totally effective and much, much easier.)

Today Houston had his first official orthodontist appointment. They took molds of his teeth to determine what kind of appliance to put on his teeth first. He's really excited about getting braces, except for the "not being allowed to eat bagels" part of it.

And tonight were parent-teacher conferences for Katrina and Zane. Katrina came with us to her conferences, because she really likes to hear the teachers say nice things about her. She always has glowing reports, and i think that she really likes to hear the teachers tell us how much they like her and how well she's doing. We visited her homeroom teacher (for the general report) and her math teacher (because that's the class she struggles in the most, though her teacher said that she's actually doing very well, because that class is taking 2 years' worth of math and covering it in one year), and then we also visited her art and band teachers, because Katrina really wanted us to.

She wanted us to go to her art teacher because that's her favorite subject, and she's doing awesome in it, and i think she wanted to have her teacher sing her praises. The art teacher knows Juanito from Wedgwood, though, so she kind of spent the entire time talking about other stuff. I finally said, "I think Katrina wants you to tell us how well she's doing...." and she was all, "Oh. Yes, she's great." And then we went to her band teacher because she's been working so, so hard in band, and the band director was very nice and was happy when we told her how glad we are to have her, especially after the last band director, but didn't actually say anything about Katrina until i asked specifically, and then she was all, "Yes. She's doing fine. She turns in her practice sheets and everything...." (She's getting an A+. I kind of think that deserves more praise than "fine," but whatever.) So i think Katrina was somewhat disappointed that she didn't get more kudos from either of them.

And then there's Zane, who is getting acceptable grades, but who is just going to be the death of me. He's gotten better at in-class behavior! Yay! He still doesn't turn in his homework or answer essay questions on tests with more than two words. Boo! But his teacher really likes him! Yay!

There are more pictures right here, if you want to see them.

Phipps!

(Google got rid of the slideshow option, so ... no more slideshows for me. Sad. Instead, i guess i'll just post a link to the album, and you can see the slideshow there? Here's the link with all of the pictures.)

My kids have been loving Karen's treadmill, and have been spending hours running. This morning, Zane tried to run on it for the first time, and he fell...but he held on while the track kept going, so he got totally skinned knees (treadmill-burn?) until he finally let go and "went slamming into the wall." He was a sad, sad boy.

We went to Phipps Conservatory today. Yay! It's SO beautiful! It's just giant - you just keep walking and finding more rooms, and it's all just so, so pretty! There's a whole area with bonsai trees, and mist machines to walk through when it's hot, and a desert garden that was just amazing, and butterflies! We kept being all, "This flower! And THIS one! And THIS ONE!"

But! OH. MY. GOSH. It was so, so, so, so hot. I mean, the day was a pretty warm one to begin with, but it wasn't unbearable, but then the conservatory had every room way hotter than outside, and way moister. We kept thinking, "Maybe the next room will be cooler?" But it never was. We were all just dripping sweat and dying of heat. Karen D. lasted for only a few rooms before declaring Amiya (and herself!) way too hot, so they went to sit in the entry by the bathrooms - the coolest spot in the entire building.

By the time we left, after we'd been there for hours, i was the hottest and most dehydrated i'd been in as long as i can remember. So!!! Hot!!!!

So in conclusion: Phipps is awesome. Go on a cooler day.

And then tonight was the opening ceremonies for the Olympics! Yay!!! We all found a spot around the TV and watched. Houston and Katrina fought over who got to hold Amiya. I was somewhat disappointed in the opening ceremonies, honestly. I think China spoiled me a bit. But watching all the athletes come in, all happy and excited, is fun. And It's exciting, because...OLYMPICS! Yay!

Hot.

Oh my gosh. It is SO HOT today. Emma has spent the entire day flopped under the ceiling fans.

We had book club last night at my house. It was a warm night, so we all crowded into the front porch. Juanito added a fancy handle to the porch door, which prevents Emma from just pushing the door open and running straight out. I moved our comfy outside chairs into the porch so we'd have somewhere happy to sit. And then we added twinkle lights, and now the front porch is all happy, and we can leave the front door open and let Emma wander in and out of the porch. I've already spent quite a lot of time sitting out there, reading and enjoying any breeze.

So cold.

It's been snowing steadily all day. The kids came home from school, did their homework quickly, and then Katrina and Zane (and Juanito) went sledding. Houston and i stayed in the house, where it was warm. Because it is COLD outside.

So cold.

Mean Girls

A few days ago, Katrina was looking at a recent picture of herself and exclaimed, "Are my freckles fading!? I don't want that to happen!"

I love it that that's her attitude. She loves her body right now. Her favorite thing on her is her legs, because "they're really strong and i can use them to run." She loves her freckles. She knows that she's super-cute.

And right now, i really, really dislike mean girls. And, honestly, all of the people who have told her in the past or will tell her in the future why she and her body and her style are not good enough.

A few weeks ago, we were out somewhere, and a random man we'd never met before told her, "I'll bet you hate your freckles, don't you?" Katrina just looked at him and didn't say anything, but as soon as we walked away, she was all, "Why do people always think that i don't like my freckles? I love my freckles!"

Today, she wore a super-cute and very "Katrina" dress - a sparkly purple one, with lots of ruffles running vertically - to school. After school, she was all sad, and when i asked her about it, she said, "Lots of girls came up to me and said, 'Oh, i'm sorry you have to wear that dress. I bet your mom bought it for you, didn't she?'"

I hugged her and reassured her that i absolutely LOVE her style, and that she looked adorable. And then we had a talk about mean girls. Because these weren't her friends, and they weren't being asked what they thought, and even if they were, that's just a straight-up incredibly mean thing to say. If you don't like someone's dress? Just shut up. If they ask you, then you can say something like, "Well, it's not my style." But to walk up to someone in the hall and tell them that their dress is ugly? That's unacceptable. And such a stupid middle-school-type thing to do. GRRR. 

Two of the things i did today

Katrina's been really wanting me to teach her how to sew. Me: "Maybe we should wait until after ArtPrize, when we'll have more time?" Her: "I'm a fast learner!" So today we got out some scraps, and i showed her how to thread the machine and sew a basic seam. She sewed a red tube-type thing, with very wonky seams, and she's very thrilled with herself. Her goal is to help make a blanket out of some really, really soft material she bought in Shipshewana.

Meanwhile, Zane's room has been a disaster (seriously, DISASTER) for ... i was going to say most of the summer, but it's probably more like "forever." Or at least since i cleaned it up for him as a Christmas present in January. So. Nine months then. It's gotten to the point where i'm just unwilling to let it go any longer, and so he's on "almost no fun" restriction until that stupid room is clean. The problem is that he's just so distract-able! I'll send him to clean it and come up half an hour later to find him sitting on his bed playing Legos, with nothing having been cleaned. Me: "Zane! You're supposed to be cleaning!" Him: "OH! I forgot!"

Tonight i brought Charlotte's Web (which we've been reading) into his room, so he could clean while i read. Except that i had to keep stopping every page to say, "ZANE! Don't play with the stuff! Just pick it up and put it away!!!!" Katrina finally sighed, "This is just not enjoyable."

And so eventually i tossed the book aside, cleared a space to sit in on his floor, and ordered him to haul out everything from under his bed. He was all, "Wait. Everything? Even these little things?" Me: "EVERYTHING." Half a ton of junk later, we got down to the tiny pieces of trash that really just need to get vacuumed up. His room is now even more of a disaster. (Although it's better than it was. We started making a dent in the giant pile of junk.)

School supplies!

The kids have been waiting (impatiently) to go school shopping for weeks and weeks - pretty much ever since school got out for the summer. I was waiting until we were closer to school starting, because every year we go buy everything and then we get an email from at least one of the teachers saying, "Oh! Actually! Get this instead." (For the record? We got two emails last week saying exactly that. So i am vindicated!)

Today we went shopping for school supplies. Exciting! Exhausting! Expensive! The amount of stuff that each kid needs for the year is insane. And none of it is just, "Get a notebook!" It's, and i quote, "Sturdy 5 subject notebook - It should have a hard plastic cover like the Mead 5 Star notebooks, but it doesn't have to be that brand. Make sure it is the 8.5" X 11" size -- it is important that the size is correct or it won't work for gluing interactive notebook pages."

Houston and Katrina each needed three of those.

I looked longingly at the 17 cent notebooks as we tossed $5 notebooks into our cart.

Each of the teachers in middle school gives their own list. According to the lists, Houston should be bringing a total of 23 glue sticks to school. Twenty-three. We looked at each other and both of us were like, "NOPE!" He's got 10. That's more than one per month. If he runs out, we'll get more.

Two scientific calculators, 8 packs of notebook paper, 6 fancy notebooks, a giant binder, a ton of pens, pencils, mechanical pencils, erasers, folders, glue sticks, dry erase markers, colored pencils, colored pens, and dividers - and nearly $200 - later, we finally left the store. We still need to get Kleenexes and paper towels.

Kids are expensive. Going to school is expensive. I totally get that the teachers are already spending their own money for stuff for the classroom, and they shouldn't be buying this stuff out of their pockets, but i have to wonder how people with less money than us - or more kids - can afford to send their kids to school at all. We didn't even need to buy new backpacks or lunchboxes this year, so that's just stuff for the classroom. Crazy!

ANYHOW. So we came home to sort out the supplies. I suggested using the table this year, so that Emma wouldn't pester us, and the kids were all, "No!!!" Because apparently it's become a tradition for us all to sit on the floor as i throw their stuff at them and then read their lists as they put things into their backpacks. It's weird what things become traditions. I never meant that to be one, but it is a nice one, i suppose. 

Insurance

Our insurance provider suddenly decided that they were no longer going to be providing insurance to actual people. They're focusing on businesses (or something like that) instead. And so we needed to switch our insurance over, which is just a hassle. Both Juanito and i hate anything that deals with things like...money and numbers and the business side of anything. (Seriously. We're the worst, worst couple as far as that goes. Neither of us has any business sense whatsoever.) So we just kind of...ignored it for as long as we could.

Except that the deadline was the end of July, and here we are at the end of July, so! Naturally, my first step was to turn to Google, because ... that's just where i get all my answers for everything, mostly. And Google utterly failed me, with a million insurance companies and their need for all of my information before they'd tell me anything at all. I'm pretty sure that all that's going to do is put me on every single telemarketing and junk mail list ever, so...no.

Step two: Call our current provider and ask if she has any guidance. Here's the thing about our current agent: I kind of hate her. She always sounds exasperated with me when i call, and she's not actually helpful with things like "getting us the best deal" or "being nice." So i talked to her, and she was all, "WELL. Your last day of insurance was actually yesterday, so you've lapsed, and now you're uninsurable. But i'll LOOK at one place, just to see how much they'll charge you. SIGH."

Step three: Mild panic attack. Text Juanito helpful things like, "I'm pretty sure i'm going to die before she calls back." Clean the toilet (in case i have to throw up, because ... panic!!! I do not do well with stress. At all.)

Step four: Get too nervous to wait anymore, and call our old, old insurance provider who we loved, who also changed who they were doing insurance with and so dropped us. Ask them for any ideas, please, please, please. Get super-nice, incredibly helpful agent who is all nonchalant about the fact that our coverage ended last night and who immediately offers to give us insurance. FOR $750 LESS PER YEAR THAN WE WERE PAYING.

So. Yay!

While i was waiting for her to run all of the numbers and send someone out to take pictures of our house and all that, i used up some of my nervous energy by making the kids help me get rid of some of the thirty bazillion weeds in the backyard. I'd post before and after pictures, but we can't grow grass, so the after pictures would look hardly any better. But in real life? Much better.

At about 4:00, i realized that Katrina hadn't been seen in a little while. I checked her bedroom, the backyard, the front yard - nothing. I asked the neighbor kids if they'd seen her, and they were all, "She's up there in her bedroom," pointing to my bedroom. And there she was, curled up asleep. She took a good 2-hour nap. Because even 11-year-olds need naps sometimes.

Bleh

Houston has been collecting bottle caps since he was two. (I actually accidentally have pictures of him starting his collection. I obviously didn't realize THEN that this would become a 10+ -year-long thing, but he was finding them and picking them up and being cute, and.... Well, i'm me.) Recently, he was all, "Hey! It might be cool if i took a bunch of them and made a table top with them? Do you think i could do that?"

And so he and Juanito set to work. Juanito slapped together a few boards. Houston carefully, carefully chose the caps he wanted to use and then glued them on. Juanito shaved the extra half-inch of board off the ends, and tonight they poured resin all over it to hold it in place. It's really cool. The legs will come soon....

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *  

Houston was actually the bright spot of my day today. Other than that, it was kind of crappy.

Our pipes have filled with tree roots (stupid 115-year-old house), so our basement flooded itself with sewage, which is just as awesome as you'd imagine. Last night, Juanito tried to snake the drains, but the stupid roto rooter that we'd rented was all broken, so he finally gave up at about 12:30. This morning he brought it back at 7:30 and was all, "So...your machine is broken and doesn't work." And the lady was all, "Well, if you'd have brought it back at 6:00 when we open, we could have switched it out for you." Um...? O...kay? Customer service at its best. And so he rented another one this afternoon and worked on it again, and he thinks it solved the problem, except that THIS snake had a big kink in it, so it still didn't work properly. Stupid Home Depot. And so Juanito spent the past two days working in literal crap. Poor him.

Katrina's friend Alex came over for the entire day, which was great because she's lovely. Except that for some reason, Katrina was very annoying with a million requests for extras all day. "Can we go to the park?" (Yes.) "Can we go to the pool? How about this other pool? How about the pool in Alex's backyard? Can we go to the ice cream shop? How about can we get ice cream at home??" (No! Oh my gosh! Your friend is here! PLAY!)

And Zane wins the prize by breaking the teacup that i got from my grandma when she died. He was throwing stuff for the dog, even though i've told him approximately eleventy million times to NOT DO THAT THERE because there were fragile things around that, and he knocked it off and it shattered. I'm a little bit devastated. And even though i know that he's sorry, he's completely refusing to acknowledge it, refusing to say sorry.

After dinner, Houston was walking past, and i said, "Sorry. I'm really not being interesting at all right now." And he was all, "It's fine! You were interesting all day! If i'm interesting for even a quarter of the day, i'm exhausted!" I love him.

Sleepy

Katrina slept over at my mom's house last night, along with several of her cousins, and she come home really happy but SO SLEEPY this afternoon. By the time i told the kids to go to bed, she practically ran up the stairs to go to sleep.

Which, really, is fair, considering that the boys and i spent a lot of time being quiet and accidentally falling asleep for 10-15 minutes at a time. I kept trying to read, and then suddenly i'd realize that i fell asleep again. I guess that's fair, given the amount of sleep i was behind on.

We're going to a water park-thing this weekend with my whole family, which means that i need an actual bathing suit. I technically had one, except that it's really old and incredibly unflattering, and it makes me sad to wear it. So i went bathing suit shopping today. Blech. I am not a fan of the bathing suit shopping. There are too many that, because i am tall and somewhat busty, are incredibly indecent-looking. Nearly all, in fact, get immediately discarded because i would be constantly accidentally flashing everyone. However! I did manage to find one that looks decent and covers all of the things it should cover. Yay! And the top and bottom are separates, and Beth has a top that also looks acceptable on me that she's letting me borrow, so i won't even have to put on a wet suit if we come out and then go back in.

And that was my day.

Summer Vacation: Day 2

Day two of summer vacation, and i'm kind of shocked that i haven't yet heard the words "I'm bored!" There's been a little bit of bickering, but nothing out of control. We all played 2 short games of "Big Brain Academy" on the Wii, but that's all the computer that has been played. So. Summer vacation so far: double plus good!

I realize, of course, that it's only day two. I mean, there's lots and lots of time left, and i'm sure that there will be plenty of whines of boredom and plenty of bickering, but it makes me happy that we're at least starting out on the right foot!

Katrina and i fixed a puzzle today. I want to say we fixed a giant puzzle, but it was really only 504 pieces. But it felt like a giant puzzle because the pieces were horrible. Awful. They weren't SO bad when you could line up the picture, because you could, y'know...line up the picture and see if it was the right place. But this puzzle had a lot of sky and a lot of water, and all of the pieces seemed to be very nearly interchangeable. Nearly, but not quite, because if you put one somewhere and it was the wrong spot, and then you tried to find the piece next to it, that piece wouldn't fit properly. And so, for every single blue piece, we'd have to put it in and look really, really carefully to decide if it fit just perfectly. Toward the end of the puzzle, i felt like i was removing as many misplaced pieces as i was putting in correct ones. So annoying!

I felt bad for Katrina, because this is one of the first times she's been interested in doing a puzzle with me, and ... it was less fun than it should have been.

So. This puzzle goes to Goodwill, i think.

Thursday

After the past two days of throwing up repeatedly and feeling generally awful, Houston slept deeply today until 2:30, when he woke up feeling much better. He might actually make it to school for one day this week. Yay! I was just starting to actually worry about him, and woke him up a few times to make sure that he wasn't ... i don't know... something bad. Just to make sure that he was okay and was drinking a bit, i guess.

I might have broken my pinkie toe this afternoon. I was leaping up to unlock the (already, it turned out, unlocked) door, and i slammed my toe into the corner. It immediately swelled up and turned bright red and hurts like crazy. Stupid toe. So i've been limping around pitifully ever since.

Juanito finally broke out his scooter. He took the two healthy kids for a ride around the block and then fiddled about with it for the rest of the day. So i think it's working? Probably?

The Dentist.

Zane and i had dentist appointments today. That look on Zane's face? That's how i feel when i'm getting my teeth cleaned too.

Both Zane and i have crazy strong gag reflexes, so we both have a really hard time with X-rays, and both of us hate having the hygienist's hands in our mouths for ages. I'm not sure about him, but to me, it just feels similar to claustrophobia - i can't breathe or think properly, and every single time i can, i have to quickly close my mouth and swallow and breathe quickly before she goes back in. I'm sure i'm a joy to work on.

Neither of us has any cavities, which is great. But apparently i clench my teeth something awful, because both the hygienist and the dentist told me that i've worn a giant crater into one of my fillings - the biggest crater they've ever seen. Plus i've started to crack another filling. On the bright side, it's just fillings that i'm destroying and not the actual teeth yet. On the downside, i'm completely wrecking my dental work. So that sucks.

I have a bite plate that i'm supposed to wear at night, but it's really tight and uncomfortable right now. I'm bringing it in tomorrow to get it readjusted, so then i should be able to wear it at night. If i can keep myself from gagging for long enough to fall asleep.

Shouldn't empathy have kicked in yet?

Zane had to come with me today to bring the kids to church for their youth church thingy, and he first begged me to try to find someone to babysit him, and then cried that he just didn't want to go, and then begged to take the tablet with him so he could play it. Finally, i said, "Geez, Zane. Fine. Take the tablet, but i was kind of looking forward to dropping the kids off and going somewhere with you and sitting and chatting. And i feel a little bit rejected right now."

I wouldn't let him play while the kids were in the car (NO! Be social!). So we dropped the kids off, ran to Meijer for a few minutes, and then, immediately upon leaving Meijer, he was all, "Can i play the tablet NOW?"

Me: "Sigh. Yes. But Zane, when you're out with one other person and you start looking at something electronic, be it a phone or a tablet or a computer or whatever, you're basically telling the other person that they're not interesting or important enough for you to want to pay attention to. And that hurts their feelings."

Zane: "..."

Me: "Zane?"

Zane: "..."

Me: "ZANE?"

Zane: "Huh?"

He missed my entire lecture, because he was too busy playing on the tablet. 

Pulling teeth

The end of the school year cannot come fast enough, because this boy right here? Is going to kill me dead.

He hates homework, which ... yeah, i hate homework too. But he hates it enough that he just doesn't do it. He either "forgets" his worksheets at school or just hides out in his room in the hopes that i'll forget to tell him to do it. Or he'll do one or two sheets and then hope that we don't look closely enough to notice that he has another sheet that he needs to do.

And when i corner him and force him to work on his homework, it's like pulling teeth. It's like pulling both his teeth AND my teeth. If i'm not sitting next to him, reminding him every minute, he gets completely distracted. I grabbed a book to read today while he was doing his homework, and i actually had to go put it away because he was getting completely distracted by the cover. Juanito was in the backyard listening to his music, and we were in the front room and could hear his music, and he was all, "I can't think! The music is distracting me!" Three sheets of homework: two hours.

And it's not just here at home. He's been completely giving up doing work AT school too. A few weeks ago, he turned in a math test that was only half finished. He understood it, but he just didn't feel like doing any more. What is that?! His teacher was all, "??????" And Juanito and i were likewise confused and flabbergasted. We've had many, many talks with him about needing to do his very best, and i've given him extra chores when his homework isn't completed, and we've tried rewards, and i think that we're all just kind of ... lost for any actual solution to this anymore. Zane doesn't want to do his best. Or even his middle-est. We can't make him.

And hence: The end of the school year cannot come fast enough. Maybe the summer will jump-start his motivation?

Mundane stuff

Every few months or so, i'll get struck by insomnia, and two nights ago was one of those times. After hours of, "WHY can't i just fall asleep???" i finally dozed off at some point between 5:00-5:30, so i got maybe 2 hours of sleep before waking up to get the kids to school. Needless to say, i was exhausted. I napped for another 3 hours after dropping the kids off, but then i wanted to be able to sleep last night, so i forced myself to stay awake the rest of the day. After Zumba, i fell into bed and slept. (A surprisingly fragmented sleep, filled with terrible dreams so scary that i nearly woke up Juanito. The kind of dreams that continue when you fall back asleep. Hate!)

So anyhow! Today i feel tired but at least not foggy. I spent the day trying to catch up on some of the laundry and housework that hasn't been getting done because of illness and exhaustion and general busyness. Piles and piles of laundry - finished! Yay! I always kind of love getting those kinds of chores finished, because they're the kind that take at least a few days to undo. Clean the kitchen, and it's a mess as soon as the kids are home. Do the laundry, and it's clean for days! (I do still have a giant pile of socks to sort, though.)

Feeling cruddy

Whatever it was that Katrina had, i got it full-force yesterday. The exact same symptoms, even down to the same times - throw up at midnight and again at 2:00, then feel exhausted and achy for a day. Houston had it today. I expect Juanito and Zane to succumb in the next couple of days.

I was talking to my mom today, and she said that my sister's family all had the exact same thing on the same day that Katrina did...exactly 2 days after she'd spent the entire day at their house. So whatever it was, they apparently all came into contact with it at the same time. We'll go ahead and blame the entire town of Grand Haven.

Sadly, this was the first really beautiful spring weekend...and i basically missed it, being curled up inside under blankets and sleeping copious amounts. (I've only dared to eat toast so far - i'm a little bit afraid of food.) At least it's not like the last beautiful weekend of fall - i'm sure to have more beautiful weekends in the near future. Yay for spring!

Everything is awful, and i'm being a bit overly dramatic, probably.

Today has been kind of a terrible day, and i am sad. 

Houston called this morning. He was knocked over (accidentally) during gym class and smashed his head on the floor, so he had a headache. Could he come home? No. He called back half an hour later: he had thrown up. I went and got him, and then called the doctor's office just to make sure that i didn't need to worry. The nurse was very nice and gave me a whole list of things to watch for (bleeding from the ears, confusion, and differently dilated pupils, for example), including "If he stops throwing up and then starts throwing up again after a long time." 

So i parked him on the couch, where he moaned quietly for a while. Eventually, to get his mind off his headache, i introduced him to Sherlock. He was iffy about wanting to watch until i told him that some of it was written by one of the guys who also writes for Doctor Who, and then he was all in. He really liked it...although i think he didn't understand quite a lot. 

Anyhow. He was fine all day - laughing, playing, headache which got more mild as the day went on. Until just before bedtime, when he totally threw up again. I called the on-call pediatrician (feeling guilty as i did so), and he was all, "Right. How bad does his head hurt now?" Houston: "Really, really bad." Doctor: "Scale of 1-10?" Houston: "3." Doctor: "So...he's kind of a tough guy, then? Okay, give him Tylenol, wake him up a couple of times in the middle of the night to check his pupils, and if anything else happens, bring him to the ER at the Children's Hospital." 

So. In the middle of the night, i'll have to wake up the un-wakeable boy to look at his eyeballs and make sure that he's not confused. Yay.

Meanwhile.

In our city, there's "Zoo School," which is only for 6th graders for one year. They get to go to school at the zoo, and it sounds awesome. Katrina applied, and we finally got the letter today. Not accepted.

I am SO disappointed. I'm so much more disappointed than i expected to be. The thing is, she's been talking about Zoo School for years - though as it's gotten closer, she's experienced more of the nervous, "But what about...." syndrome that we kind of expect from Katrina. She doesn't like change or decisions.

The thing is, they make the decision of who gets to go based entirely on the standardized test scores. The tests that Katrina always does poorly on. She's so much better in school than the stupid test shows. She consistently gets really good grades and she's in advanced math. One of the girls in her class DID get in to Zoo School, and i know that Katrina gets better grades than she does AND the other girl is in the lower math class. I just want to yell, "NOT FAIR!" 

So. We can appeal. We're planning to appeal. But just in case, i sent her teacher an email this afternoon: 

My question is this: My husband and I think that she's smarter than she looks on the test, and that she'd do awesome at zoo school because she works REALLY HARD in school. But we're a little bit biased too, so before i call them and appeal and am all, "My special snowflake deserves a chance!" I thought I'd ask you your opinion. Do YOU think that Katrina's test score accurately reflects where she is and she'd honestly be in over her head there? I don't want to set her up for failure.

Anyhow. I am really sad. I told Katrina she didn't get in, and her response was, "Oh. Well, that's okay, i guess." (Also, she doesn't know yet that three of her best friends DID get in, and that might make her a lot more disappointed. Or not.)

And, just in case appealing doesn't change anything and she doesn't get to go: These are the things that would be good about staying where she is: Sports start in middle school, and she's mentioned wanting to try track and maybe other sports. She could continue being in band. Transportation would be easier....

Meanwhile.

Zane has a very loose tooth. He wants attention for that. 

It's a wrap!

As i was doing Katrina's hair wrap, i said, "Aw! I want a hair wrap too!" and Juanito was all, "I could do that for you!" So yesterday he sat and wrapped my hair all cute and i was happy, and Beth was all, "I want one too! Can you do mine?!" I was going to, except Juanito is clearly much better at it than i am - he does all cute things and takes the time to make it really, really tight and whatnot - so tonight we watched 2 episodes of Downton Abbey while Juanito wrapped up Beth's hair. (She used a much thinner floss than i did, so hers took longer. It'll probably stay in much better, though.)

And they're cute! Yay! (Of course, we look like we're in a clique, but ... whatever.)

Watching Downton Abbey was perfect for tonight, because i was SO GROUCHY by the time Beth got here. I was partly grouchy because there wasn't anything particularly important that made me grouchy, so i shouldn't have been nearly as cranky as i was. It was just a series of little annoyances:

I was going to make spaghetti for dinner, except when i grabbed the boxes out of the cupboard, i realized that they were both half empty, which meant that there wasn't really enough for everyone. I dumped those into the pot anyhow, and then rooted around in case there was a box hiding...and there was! Success! I opened it and dumped it into the pot...and then realized that it was all gross with little dead moths and stuff, so i had to throw away ALL of the spaghetti. Grrr.

So then i started making waffles. I added the first few ingredients, and then grabbed the baking powder...which had about 1/2 teaspoon's worth left in it. Not nearly enough. So no waffles for us tonight. (Luckily i was still on dry ingredients, so we can use it tomorrow.) At that point i gave up in frustration and declared that everyone was going to have to fend for themselves. Cereal and sandwiches and ramen noodles it was!

Emma somehow escaped from our backyard - twice - and ran over to the next-door neighbor's yard, where they have a giant bowl of dog food frozen in a solid block, left over from before their dog died in November. As far as Emma was concerned, it was like a delicious dog-food popsicle.

The kids and i were all sitting in the family room while i was reading the final book of the Willow Falls series to them, and Emma walked to the center of the room and threw up a prodigious amount. Zane immediately ran out of the room. Houston started gagging and gagging until i ordered him out of the room. Katrina sat there and stared in fascination.

That was the end. It was close enough to bedtime that i gave up for the night and sent them all off to bed. Goodnight. Let me sit and fume quietly. I am finished.

On the bright side, i know what we're having for dinner tomorrow!  

Cold. So, so cold.

Zane just cracks me up sometimes. He wore this mustache around the house for an hour or so, and only took it off so that he could eat lunch. And if you're going to wear a mustache, then naturally you need to also make a silly face to go with it for the picture.

When i first looked at the temperature this morning, it was -9, although i know that it was supposed to be around -20 last night, so i'm assuming that it was already "warming up" by then. The windchill was -22, though, even at 9:00 this morning. Our school called an "inclement weather" day, presumably to avoid multiple cases of frostbite.

I happen to agree that staying inside is the only reasonable choice right now. Usually i try to send my kids outside to play for at least a short time when they have a day off, but i just can't even think about doing that with these kinds of temperatures. So we stayed inside. The boys played Pokemon and Lego. Katrina and i read a couple of chapters of Harry Potter. We read and listened to music and generally tried to stay warm.

And then tonight, Katrina went to a friend's house for a sleepover. Beth came over for pizza/movie night, for which we watched "The Hudsucker Proxy." It's been a long time since i've watched that, and it totally made me laugh numerous times. I'm not sure the boys enjoyed it as much as we adults did, though. Ah well. We watch plenty of kids movies for them.