mother’s blessings

the day started out with this:

damon recovering from outpatient surgery for a double hernia.  it’s pretty much the same procedure i got to experience in february for my gall bladder removal- only i got to stay in the hospital for 3 days.  damon was “lucky” enough to arrive at the hospital at 8 am this morning and have me pick him back up at noon.  he’s doing pretty well,though.  [and, seriously, why didn’t anyone offer ME earphones when i was laid up for that week?1]

i’m hoping he gets a great night’s rest tonight so he will be able to get up early with the kids tomorrow for their first day back to school so i can continue to sleep in.  ha.ha.

i have to say he timed this quite perfectly with the first week of school.  he will miss all of the chaos and early morning attitude adjustments this week.  i’ll be doing it all myself.  can’t wait to shift my schedule about 3 hours starting tomorrow.  but i was pretty thrilled to be back to a decent bedtime this evening.

he would normally have given each of the kids a father’s blessing tonight in preparation for returning to school, but those will have to wait until next week now.

instead of getting a blessing from dad, i gave my girls a blessing of my own- in the form of a day at the spa.  thanks to erin, i braved the hooker gold salon and survived, camera intact. 

we invited our neighbors and spent a good couple hours in the salon this afternoon- while nolan was home [playing x-box] taking care of damon.

             

pedicures/manicures:  $75

elli’s gel nails:  additional $20

emma’s language barrier mistake:  $5 (or -$15, depending on how you look at it)

elli’s haircut:  $10

being allowed to take pictures:  priceless

the anticipation of the troubles ellison’s going to have tomorrow opening her new junior high locker:  not so priceless

Technorati Tags: damon,ellison,emma

to do…

how do i allow myself to adapt to this so easily?

what the bottom of my stairs currently (and often) looks like:

 

i can’t stand this pile of stuff that needs to be put away and yet i do nothing about it:

• a suitcase that has been proudly unpacked and waiting to be put back down in the crawl space since the beginning of august
• 5 duffle bags that have also been proudly emptied and thrown to the bottom of the stairs to be put in the crawl space (just feet away from where they are sitting) since we got back from our camping trip
• a kitty carrier that i moved out of our crowded garage weeks ago to also be put in the crawl space
• a box of old CD’s that has been sitting in the playroom for a couple years now.
• food storage that needs to be shelved in the storage room
• 3 large rubbermaids right around the corner in the playroom of “younger toys” that we don’t need cluttering the playroom right now that also have a home in the crawl space. 

and probably several other things that have been discovered by curious children that have been moved to a second or third location as if to rescue these items from the crawl space of doom.

this is also where my easter boxes sat for months before the effort was actually made to carry them the rest of the way into the storage room and down into the crawl space where they belong.

it totally bugs me that i allow myself to get comfortable with the clutter.  it’s totally in the way and yet i walk by it several times a day and still put it off for a “more convenient time” to put it where it really belongs. 

i think a part of me is waiting for damon to put it all away, but i keep forgetting to actually let him know that i expect him to deal with it.  he probably has no idea why this stuff is even sitting there. 

and so it sits.  and gets added to (and slyly taken from).  and it eats at me.  and i blog about it, but still it sits. 

hopefully, by some magical occurrence, it will be gone tomorrow.  gone to the crawl space, that is.  not gone back into the corners of my house.

and i have a feeling i will be the one that is magical.

a day out with grandma

not one of my kids [hallelujah] and definitely not our grandma.

today we had an “experience” at supercuts.  we went to get 3 children’s haircuts, but left with much more. 

when we arrived, there was a little girl (maybe 4 or 5) who had just gotten her hair washed and was about to receive a cut.  her grandma was seated next to my kids, who had just received balloons while they waited for their turn in the chair.  i knew i was in for a special treat when sadie (the little girl getting her haircut) demanded a pink helium-filled balloon AND a purple flat balloon to blow up herself after she left supercuts. 

the grandma smiled a sheepish grin and said, “what’s the magic word, sadie?”

“I WANT A PINK HELIUM BALLOON AND I WANT A PURPLE FLAT BALLOON NOW…please.”

kudos to the supercuts lady who sweetly responded with, “would you like a pony with that too?”

she was a gem of client and refused to hold her head straight or to cooperate with the hairstylist, despite her grandma’s sweet, gentle pleadings.  she complained of her bangs hanging in her eyes, but refused to let the lady trim them.  she was asking/whining if the lady was done before she even had the scissors out.  oh boy, i knew i was in for treat.

this post would be way too long if i actually relayed the “conversations” had between sadie and grandma, but let’s just say sweet little sadie was still at supercuts when we left (nearly an hour and a half later) and these are some things we’d learned about sadie’s and grandma’s day together thus far:

• they had already been to the movie theatre to see ponyo.  i guarantee sadie had a large popcorn and a large drink and whatever candies her little heart desired.  and i would also bet that she didn’t even enjoy the movie. 
• after supercuts, grandma had promised sadie she would take her to petco to buy her a mouse with red eyes and a hamster ball for the mouse to play in. 

[at this point, nolan casually says to me, “she’s one lucky kid, mom”]

• sadie has dark brown hair.  after seeing emma’s beautiful golden hair, she demanded that her hair “be yellow like that".”  and guess what sadie got?  you got it.  sadie’s grandma forked over 71 bucks for her sweet grandchild to have exactly what she wanted at that very moment.  and also promised her she’d bring her back to get it done again when sadie discovered her hair wouldn’t be yellow forever. 

but sadie didn’t have the patience (can you believe a 4/5-year old wouldn’t have the patience for foiling?!!) to wait around for the hairstylist to finish foiling all her hair so grandma said let’s just stop right here (from the crown to the middle of her head) since that’s what sadie wants. 

ray was getting blue gel tips in his hair at this point so i pointed to ray and told sadie it’d be a lot faster if she wanted to do blue instead of yellow.  she considered it.

and i was dying to see the finished result.  i just knew sadie would be so happy- after all her grandma had done for her that day.  even though we were done, we all wanted to see sadie’s new do and her reaction.  so we waited a few extra minutes.

but, guess what?  sadie was disappointed and cried.  her hair didn’t look anything like emma’s afterall.  in fact, you could hardly notice a difference.  poor sadie.

and it was at this point, i decided i couldn’t handle anymore of sadie and we decided to leave in the middle of sadie’s disappointment.

and sure enough, when we got in the car to go home, nolan asked if we could go to the pet store to buy a pet mouse and emma asked if she could get highlights in her hair, too. 

my response, “do i look like sadie’s grandma to you?”

and my guess is that grandma took sadie to mcdonald’s after the pet store. 

better a supercuts encounter than a mcdonald’s encounter. 

what i was too tired to post yesterday

meet the teacher.

quite possibly may be more exciting than the first day of school.  it’s the day the kids get a taste of what the school year will be like.  they find out who their new teacher will be and who is [and isn’t] in their class and where their classroom is.  and they also get to see all their friends they’ve missed over the  summer.  it’s short and sweet and a lovely initiation to the school year. 

this year:

elli isn’t at the elementary school anymore, but she wanted to come be cooler than all the “little elementary kids”.  she was hoping to see a special someone (yes, he’s back) who also has younger siblings still in elementary school.  no luck. 

emma {5th-grade} had the biggest surprise.  she wanted mrs. kessel, but ended up in a 4th/5th grade split with the same teacher she had last year:  mrs. carson.  she was a little disappointed to not get her first choice, but is very excited to have mrs. carson again.  this is the second time that emma has had the same teacher two years in a row.  she is a stellar student and any teacher would love to have her in their class.  it does not surprise me at all that she “ended up” with the same teacher she had last year.  it’s great for me as a parent, also, because i pretty know what to expect from this teacher so that makes an easier transition for me,.

nolan [2nd grade] wanted mrs. droke, and nolan got mrs. droke.  he is happy.  none of his “friends” are in his class, but i actually like it that way.  it gives them opportunities to make new friends and to grow.  he will also transition easily and will be a great asset to his teacher and classmates.  he is very easy-going and super eager to learn.  i just hope he is done with whatever sickness his body has been clinging to for the past 2 weeks before school starts on tuesday.

savannah will start kindergarten this year.  she turned 6 last week (during our campout) and could have started last year, but i wanted to wait.  she will be in all-day with a teacher that is very experienced- both firm/structured and very loving at the same time.  mrs. ashe.  i think/hope it will be a great fit for her.  she’s been in pre-school for the past 3 years, and i’m hoping that all-day kindergarten will give her some extra time in her day to adjust and be less-anxious.  i’m not a fan of all-day kindergarten and none of my other kids have done it, but i think it will be good for savannah.  she will have the most difficult time transitioning to something new, though she’ll love it.  it will be an interesting year, i’m sure. 

ray wandered the halls looking for his new classroom.  we never found it.  next year, ray.  next year.
i am starting a co-op preschool with ray this year with several of my friends .  it’s a fabulous group of women and i’m super excited to be involved.  he will start mid-september.

4 kids gone for 7 1/2 hours a day is glorious to me right now.  though i know i’ll be complaining i never get any time with my kids in a couple months.  right now, i’m really looking forward to hanging out with ray and taking it easy.  this is the season i was expecting a couple years ago, but things didn’t happen that way for me.  

this is also a day i like to take too many pictures [and this is only a small fraction of them).  but aren’t these guys cute?

                                                             

4 more days…