Marching to the beat of his own drummer....

I cleaned the basement today. I am beginning to feel my annual fall urge to purge. It always seems to hit me at this time of year that Christmas is only a couple of months away and we are bursting at the seams with toys, toys and more toys.

In anticipation of having some items from my father in laws house that we are going to have to find a home for in our storage area - I attempted to make a dent in there as well. I went through a couple of bins of hand me downs that had been given to my kids and then quickly ran out of steam.

One of the hand me downs I found was a nylon Harley Davidson jacket. I put it in Evan's room thinking that he would love it for playing dress up.

Dress up. Schmess up. He wanted to wear it. Out in public. With soccer pants and Crocs. My boy has a flair for fashion.

We were headed to the Halloween store to get Spencer's costume so I figured there really wasn't any better place to wear such a getup.

I am learning to pick my battles.


That boy cracks me up! If only we hadn't missed "bike time" this year. He would have been the cutest little biker guy in town!

Hailey's (First) First Day of School!

Hailey had her first day of preschool today and she did fabulous! Any little bits of apprehension that she had expressed to me in the days leading up to this day were gone the minute she entered the classroom. She found her name tag and placed it under her backpack hook. (This task will be a little bit daunting for her since the only letter she really knows in her name is "H" and there is a little boy named Hudson in her class. I keep trying to instill in her to look for the "H-A)".

She grabbed a picture to color while she waited for the rest of her class to get situated and I had to chuckle as I watched her moving her hand to color but not even looking at the paper. Her eyes were darting around the room transfixed on what the other kids in her class were doing.

I kissed her goodbye and left her there to begin her new adventure. Another Mom I know asked me on the way out if I was sad. I thought I would be, but I really wasn't. I think after the last week I was so ready for two hours of complete alone/quiet time I was thankful for the break. The sadness might be something that hits me unexpectedly down the road a bit.

It was a bizarre feeling to walk out of that school without carrying a baby or holding a toddler's hand. I have been a bit nostalgic for my babies lately. They seem to be growing up so fast and now with Hailey in school I feel like my job as a mother is almost over. I know in the sane part of my head that is not true - but I feel it anyway. It didn't help matters when my neighbor wrote on Facebook (don't talk about Facebook) how much she was missing her babies that were away at school. (Her youngest went to college a few weeks ago.) I know that those days seem like a long way off, but really they will be here before I know it.

I am happy for my girl. She loves school and she is already excited to go back. Her enthusiasm reminds me of Evan's and he has always been a voracious learner. I hope she follows in her older brother's footsteps in that regard.

When I went back to the school to pick her up, the kids were coming back into the building from outside. They were all walking in a line with "hands on your hip and finger on your lips". I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that Hailey is one of the tallest (if not the tallest - by the time I noticed some kids were seated already) in her class. That is a first in this family for sure!

My hope for her this year is that she is able to branch out a bit and establish an identity of her own. I hope she makes some sweet little girl friends and forms bonds that last long into her school years.

Happy first day of school baby girl! I can't believe how fast the years have gone by!

Beaming

I was helping Spencer with his spelling homework tonight when Evan walked over and asked if he could practice writing sentences while he waited for Spence to finish.

Um? Sure you can!

When I saw him writing his sentence I couldn't stop smiling. He was sounding out words. He was stretching words. He was leaving finger spaces between words. He was simply doing an awesome job!

It may not look like much but what I saw tonight was so far from where he started. I couldn't be more proud of my first grade boy! Can you read it?

I like to go to the park.

Sunday bargain hunting

I wanted to do a lot of garage-saleing this summer. But summer is crazy and summer gets so busy - I managed to get out once while my sister was in town early in July. We hit some good ones and found lots of bargains. It was fun to have someone to go with that enjoyed the hunt like I do.

Sunday is not a very popular garage-saleing day, but my Mom and I read about a big moving sale being held in a pretty affluent neighborhood on a Sunday. We thought that we might as well check it out. The sale was held on Saturday too, but since it POURED here on Saturday, we figured they wouldn't have been very busy so there would be lots of stuff left.

We were wrong.

When we drove by at first we thought we had the wrong house because it looked like they had nothing left. After checking the address and determining that this house was in fact the correct house - we ventured in to see what we could find.

They didn't have too much, but most of what they had was pretty good stuff.


Hailey spotted these boots right away and was hooked. They were three dollars. The seller probably would have taken two for them but I need to work on my bargaining assertiveness. They were in good shape. They were a couple of sizes too big, but all the better to grow into my dear. Plus we all know how my Hailey loves her a good pair of boots!

Three Scooby Doo DVD's and five Magic Schoolbus DVD's - six dollars. These were all bundled together, but it couldn't have been a more perfect bundle. My boys LOVE Scooby Doo movies.
They are also fascinated by the Magic Schoolbus series and I can't find it on TV anymore. I always loved those because they were so educational. I learned things I didn't know watching that show.

The seller gave Hailey this cute pair of shades and a case just because she thought she was cute. I guess I need to take her with me more often.

Last but certainly not least, our girl has her first big girl bike as of today. It was marked at thirty dollars and I knew it was worth the price especially with a helmet included, but I was still hemming and hawing because I knew she didn't really NEED it yet and we usually get the kids a bike for their fourth birthday. But then I thought - here is a perfectly good bike for cheap when the one we will buy in January will be well over fifty dollars and plus - IT WILL BE JANUARY! She won't get to ride her birthday present for months! What kind of a gift is that? My hesitation paid off because the seller walked over and told me that she didn't want to pack it back up and would take twenty five for it. SOLD!

I was pretty happy with my purchases today. Maybe Hailey and I will start going to some sales on Friday mornings while the boys are at school. Because that is what we need - more STUFF around here!

First day of school!

I am short on words right now because my thoughts are consumed with worry about things much more important than posting on a blog.

But yesterday was the boys' first day of school and there are a few things that I want to remember about that day. Things that make me happy. And when you are going through times when you feel the hardness of life - things that make you happy are good.

We were able to go to the school last night to meet the kids' teachers and see their classrooms. It was mostly old hat for Spencer who is embarking on his fifth year at the school, but Evan was as excited as he could be. He couldn't wait to show us his desk that opened! It opens - like a secret hatch kind of! He could barely contain himself as he pulled out one pencil after another and took them to the pencil sharpener to put a fine point on them. When I was able to speak to his teacher she told me that she was so excited to have Evan in class this year (she had Spence in first grade also). I told her that he was very excited about first grade and apparently the most excited about sharpening pencils. I had to laugh when she told me that all day long between lessons he would go to the sharpener and sharpen his pencil. She finally told him that if he kept on sharpening that pencil he wasn't going to have a pencil left! I guess now we know what to get him for Christmas.

Evan lost his lunch case on his first day. He didn't know that he was supposed to put it in his locker after lunch and just left it in the cafeteria. We found it in the lost and found while we were at the open house. So typical of one of my kids to lose something on the first day of school.

It warmed my heart tonight while I was tucking Evan in and told him that I was glad he liked first grade when he said that he still sometimes missed me during the day. I told him that I missed him too, but that tomorrow morning we would do "kissing hands". He liked that idea a lot.

The bus stop is HUGE this year! All in all a good start to the school year - at least the school part of it. If you have a minute, please keep my family in your prayers - we could use them right now.

So long summer!

We had an amazing summer. Hot weather - the kind of heat that forces you to run your air conditioner more often than you can ever recall running it in previous years. Warm lake temperatures - warm as in not falling below the high sixties and mostly hovering in the seventies. I don't ever recall in my almost forty years of living here a summer where the water just stayed warm all summer long. It always seemed to fluctuate between warm and cold depending on the day.

Here it is labor day weekend and our summer is ending in a way that does not seem fitting for how incredible a summer it was.


My kids on the beach on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. This beach should be standing room only at this point - not a soul to be found. And do you notice what my kids are wearing? Not exactly beach attire.

They are still pretty cute, even when they are freezing their tiny booties off!

Later Saturday we had a bonfire on our deck and we all wore jackets. Jackets and bonfires and summer weekends just don't seem to go together.

We had a visit from a skeleton pirate complete with treasure map made out of an old piece of cardboard he tore apart. Don't think for a second that I am not trying to convince Spencer that this should be his Halloween costume. I am being a bit of an overachiever with my sewing projects and I don't think I can make three costumes this year.

Evan shows off his prize winning stick gathering skills and his sudden desire to "pose" for every picture I take of him.

These are Spencer's marshmallows. He still adheres to the "burn and blow" method where I am more of a golden brown snobby sort.

Hailey with her new haircut (courtesy of her Mommy) and a little bit of marshmallow on her face.

The biggest brother, with a lot of marshmallow on his face, enjoying his last s'more of the summer. Of course there is always Fall....

On Sunday we drove to a park up north and hiked around in the woods for almost four hours. We were hunting for a pirate themed, multi-stage geocache that Trent has been jonesing to find for over a year now.

Hailey pretty much cried the whole time and wanted to be carried by her Daddy.

The boys had a great time and never complained once. And they even missed lunch because it took way longer than we thought it would.

Not a bad view huh?

And what could be better after finding eighteen hidden clues than a giant treasure chest at the end?

So long summer! We are already counting down the days until next year!

A penny saved....

Before I get to the penny I need to talk a little bit about poop. You read it right - you don't have to go back and re-read the first sentence.

A few weeks ago when we were on vacation we discovered that Spencer had acquired a new ailment. The boy suffers from jabbers - or nervous stomach - or whatever you choose to call the feeling that you have to poop whenever you get a bit agitated. His call from the backseat that he had to go to the bathroom about every other mile got to be a bit frustrating to say the least. I mean c'mon we are on vacation for crying in the bathtub - what in the world do you have to be stressed about?

On day two of our vacation we found a drug store and Trent ran in to buy the boy some Pepto Bismol. I ran into the drug store a few minutes later with Spencer because he felt like he had to poop again. Fun times. We didn't know if the Pepto would help or not. If he really did have some stomach issue going on we figured it might. If it was all in his head (as we imagined) then maybe the medicine would have a placebo effect on him.

At one point during our trip Spencer picked up the Pepto bottle and began reading the label and asked me which one of the ailments that it claimed to help was what he suffered from. Since the label did not say "nervous stomach" or "urge to poop whenever we are nowhere near a bathroom" I didn't quite know what to tell him. It turns out I didn't have to tell him anything because as he continued to read he came to his own conclusion that what he suffered from was "traveler's diarrhea". I didn't have the heart to tell him that traveler's diarrhea was actually something you get by traveling to foreign countries not traveling a few hours north in the state and country you currently reside in.

Traveler's diarrhea has become a phrase heard daily around our house because he is still obsessed with it. He likes to inform me on a daily basis (at least) that he thinks his traveler's diarrhea is gone but he worries that it might come back once he starts school. I reassure him by telling him that I am sure it will be gone by then but if it is not there is a bathroom in his classroom so he really shouldn't worry about it.

OK - on to the penny.

Last night the boys were going to sleepover at the house of a friend in our neighborhood. Trent and I decided that since we only had Hailey to deal with that we would go out to dinner. As the boys loaded up with their overnight gear and sleeping bags I scribbled Trent's cell phone number on a piece of paper and told Spencer to give it to his friend's dad because we were not going to be home for about an hour or so and if he had to reach us, this would be the way. (Someone had a hand in that little move on my part.) The boys ran excitedly down the street and Trent and I packed up Hailey and had a wonderful dinner out with only one child to entertain. Which always causes us to ponder how we ever thought life was tough with one child?

On the way home Trent noticed that he had a message on his phone. A message from friend's house. Trent called back and from what he was saying I noticed no urgency the only thing I caught was that "Spencer was freaked out a bit". I honestly thought that his traveler's diarrhea had made an appearance at friend's house. Trent hung up the phone and told me that Spencer had swallowed a penny.

What the what????

Our nine year old son swallowed a penny.

Apparently he had put the penny into his mouth so that his friend couldn't get it and then in a boyish struggle, the penny went down his throat. He was a bit shaken up, but otherwise seemed fine.

I immediately texted my BFF who is an ER nurse to ask her what is the protocol when someone swallows a penny. She told me that he was big enough that it was most likely in his stomach and that I shouldn't worry too much. Maybe give his pediatrician a call in the morning. In the meantime, get him home from his friend's house and watch his breathing and make sure that he didn't turn blue or his stomach didn't start to hurt or something. What she said made sense and Trent was pretty low key about the whole incident citing the fact that a friend of his once swallowed two quarters. Not helping right now, but thanks honey.

We got Spencer home and assessed the situation. He looked all right, but what worried me was that he said he thought he could still feel the penny in his esophagus. I decided that I would not be able to sleep unless I knew where that coin was in my baby boy's body. And I really wanted to sleep because I am trying to stave off some sort of sinus issue. Spencer was upset because I told him he wouldn't be able to sleep at friend's house because we had to watch him. But if I knew the coin was in his belly, he could probably go back to the sleepover. So off we went to the Immediate Care Facility. It was five minutes to eight o' clock and I was praying that they didn't close at eight. We pull into the parking lot and the hours posted for the ICF are 9-6. Six! Are you kidding me? I get on the highway and am wondering to myself if I am overreacting. Probably. But I am a hypochondriac by nature. There is no way that I can just take him back home. If the unthinkable happened I could not live with my decision. So at 8:15 we walked into the hospital ER and the two girls who were filling out our paperwork to get us to triage didn't know how to spell "penny" and "swallowed". I second guessed my decision for a minute and I never wished so bad that my BFF was working. Spencer was visibly upset while they checked him in. He was afraid they were going to have to stick something down his throat to get the penny out. I told him that the worst thing that would happen to him would be an x-ray. He didn't seem convinced.

The doctor came in and told Spence that he was the oldest kid that he had ever seen that swallowed a penny. Fabulous! He listened to his breathing and talked to Spence a bit while Spencer got more and more upset. The doctor sat next to him and put his arm around him and asked him what he was so scared of - all the while looking at me like I had forced the penny down his throat or something - ER docs always seem super suspicious of parents to me. Probably because they see such horrible things or something. He finally told the doctor he was scared because he thought the penny was still stuck. The doctor told him he didn't think that was the case and that he would be fine but they were going to do an x-ray just to be sure.

The nurse came in to take us down to the x-ray room. I had a flashback of Spencer screaming his head off in the same room when he was four and dislocated his elbow. He was fine this time though - hopped up like a champ and stayed as still as could be. I stayed behind the glass wall with the technician and watched as the picture of my baby's rib cage appeared on the computer screen with one solid white dot in it. And me being the science idiot that I am had to ask "so it's in his stomach then?" To which she replied, "That's his stomach - you can't miss it."

As we walked back to the room to wait for the doc the first words out of Spencer's mouth were, "Since it is in my stomach can I go back to friend's house to sleep?" He was extremely relieved and back to his old self.
The doctor came in a few minutes later and told us that the penny was in his stomach and will most likely be appearing in his poop in the next few days. He then asked me if Spencer pooped at least once a day. I chuckled a little and told him "at least once -usually more". Then Spencer looked at the doctor and told him " I have traveler's diarrhea." I laughed out loud. I am sure the doctor thought we were nuts or something.

At nine PM we were out the door. Forty five minute ER visit? Not so bad after all.

So now we are waiting for the penny to make its reappearance. Where is that darn traveler's diarrhea when you need it?

Update: We told him he had to wear his hospital bracelet until we "recovered" the penny. He wore it for a long time because we never did find that darn penny. We think it most likely came out two days after the swallowing when he was playing at a friend's house and pooped over there despite me telling him to run home if he felt the urge! After a week of checking poop and finding nothing, we had to take him back in for another xray and this time there was no little white circle anywhere on the screen. He was penny free!