Bees!

The kids were playing out in the backyard this afternoon and got stung by bees.  Again.  Poor kids!  Actually, last month just Lex got stung. Today it was both if them. Parrish escaped unharmed at least.  I’d hate to  send friends home with bee stings. 

I was worried about Eve because it was her first bee sting and she had that peanut allergy in the past.  I was hoping we would have bee allergies on our hands.

She got stung on her upper lip. Lex also got stung on his upper lip and on his upper arm.  Eve was fine.  Lex on the other hand… not so fine.

Here he is 40m after the sting (20m after his first Benedryl dose) –

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Three hours later –

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The good news is that he is in no pain.  I guess it looks a lot worse than it feels.  I keep checking for numb tongue or other swelling.  Over the three hours the lip swelling went down a bit, or maybe just moved to his cheek and eye.  Poor guy.  I hope he feels (and looks) better in the morning.

Tired

That will be my default blog post heading for the next 11 months.

I had another busy week. Just me. Routine as usual for the kids. Poor Alan was at work until midnight last night and probably working this weekend, so I guess you could call his week pretty busy as well.

I had my first solo teaching day on Thursday. I went into it feeling prepared and flying high. My mentor said that’s a great sign for success. :) The day went well, for the most part. I was able to tweak and refine my writing lesson since I taught it three times in a row. The way we are rotating classes this year is interesting. Have I mentioned it here before? I’m losing track. I taught a writing class three times and led a reading group. The lessons were ok but it was great to be able to refine the writing one over and again as I presented it to each new class. The third time was much better than the first. :) Reading group went well. I think they understood the point of the lesson, but my assessment at the end was poorly worded so it didn’t do an accurate job. I had a nice girl come tell me that the question didn’t make a lot of sense and perhaps I could word it a different way. She was right and I thanked her for the feedback.

The downer of the day, and what I’m stuck ruminating on, was our first “lock-down” drill of the year. I knew it was coming, we all knew it was coming, but things went a little amiss in my classroom and I didn’t handle it as well as I wanted to. All is ok, but I was frustrated. My principal says “that’s why we practice these things!” Sigh. I have very high expectations for myself. Higher probably than most others have for me. I want to be perfect, and I want to be perfect right now! That’s not unreasonable, right?!

On Monday I’ll be subbing in the class (teaching experience and a few extra $$, can’t beat that!) while my teacher does reading testing. This week begins our standardized testing as well, so that will be a fun new experience for me. New from a teaching perspective, I remember them from a student’s perspective!

We have no big plans for the weekend. I have fantasies of sleeping until noon, but my little (actually, he’s pretty big these days!) alarm clock will have me up bright and early every day. I need more time with them anyway. :)

For now, I have a lovely glass of wine, a basket (or three) of laundry, and a husband patiently waiting for me to come join him in the living room.

TGIF!

Weekend Update

My blog post titles are getting so clever. Lots going on this weekend. Lots of little things, nothing major.

It started Friday afternoon with a trip to the eye doctor for Eve. Once again she is doing just fine, the doctor is very happy with her eye strength improvements. They dilated her eyes so she got that little bit of fun that only those of us with bad vision ever get to experience. I told her that I’m going next month and they’ll probably dilate my eyes too, so she’ll have to drive us all home. That got a good laugh. We also ordered new glasses for her. It was a debate (between me, myself, and I mostly) because she doesn’t need a new prescription, but her glasses were too small and very scratched up, but so darn cute! She was a bit hesitant about picking new ones (and her eyes were dilated so she couldn’t see well), but she finally found a pair she really liked and got excited after that. Stay tuned for Eve’s new look next week. :)

Saturday morning started with a trip to the flu shot clinic. This time Eve put up a fuss and lots of tears while Lex did ok. He started protesting and wouldn’t sit on the table, so I pulled him on my lap in the chair and wrapped him up and started talking quietly into his ear. The nurse took the silently offered opportunity and did her job quickly! He wasn’t happy, but it was over in no time and he survived. Eve, on the other hand, backed herself into a corner and wailed. Alan pulled her onto his lap on the doctor’s table and gave her a big hug. The nurse saw an exposed shoulder and lickety-split, Eve’s shot was over. She continued to wail. Alan and I both made it through with no tears of our own! :)

Then we celebrated with a trip to play mini-golf. Eve continued to cry about everything and chose not to play. However, the sunshine and fresh air did her good and she happily tagged along while we played. The course is beautiful and Eve enjoyed the flowers and ponds as much as we enjoyed the game. I kept getting distracted with taking pictures. Lex and Alan were more focused on the game. It was a great morning!

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Saturday afternoon we spent outside, playing in the leaves. I’m glad we did too, because it rained Saturday evening and all night, so the leaves were wet and gross today. Glad we got some good leaf raking and pile jumping in on Saturday afternoon.

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Sunday was quieter. The kids played outside and played their computer games. I went for a walk/run. Alan worked. This afternoon he started working in the basement again and we started moving things back in!!! Exciting! I’ll post pictures of the basement soon. It’s beautiful!

At dinner time Lex wanted garlic bread. He didn’t want to make it himself so he decided to order some. He got out a few menus and compared prices. When I told him that they probably wouldn’t deliver such a small order, he recruited Eve and Alan to go in on the order as well. Everyone paid for their own food and, most exciting of all, Lex phoned in the order!!! He did it all on his own. He gave them our order, our address, got the total, and even used good manners and a clear speaking voice. I was impressed. I was in the kitchen, right nearby just in case, but making a salad and not hovering. He figured out the money (with a little help from Alan and I on the tip) and collected everyone’s contributions, and got done just before the delivery guy came. He was so proud of himself.

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We had a bit more excitement this evening when I noticed red spots all over Lex in the tub tonight. His abdomen and inner thighs are covered. There are also a few spots on his arms and legs and one hand. I immediately thought chicken pox. I turned his bath into an oatmeal bath and told him to stay put for awhile, then I called the doctor. His first question was, “Is Lex acting sick?” That seemed to be the determining factor. Lex wasn’t acting sick at all. In fact, he was full of energy and feeling just fine. The doctor said it’s most likely hives. Just thinking of hives this evening has left me feeling hot and itchy all over! I gave Lex some antihistamine (expired in 2010 ’cause I’m a rockstar parent!) and let him stay up late and watch a show with Alan. He went to bed still spotty, but less itchy. Hopefully they clear up soon! I thought maybe it was a flu shot reaction (a first) but Lex reminded me that the itchiness started yesterday afternoon after a weird caterpillar fell out of a tree and into his lap. So maybe that had something to do with it. Maybe we’ll never know. I’m holding off on telling him about my hive related trips to the hospital. He’s worried enough without that little factoid!

The doctor said as long as he’s feeling ok and not acting sick then we should send him to school tomorrow. That was my real reason for calling on a Sunday night, otherwise I would have just called during business hours. I didn’t want to be “that mom” who sends her kid to school with chicken pox! Conveniently I’m right next door to him in school, so if he’s having trouble at school tomorrow I can dose him up again. I’ll keep ya posted. (Alan did some googling just now and determined it was a Hickory Tussock caterpillar. So there’s that.)

On to another full week at school. My first solo day of teaching is this week. I have an awesome lesson plan written and I’m ready to go!

Neglect

My poor, neglected blog. I have run out of time in my days. Run out of energy. Every last drop this week and last has been spent on UVEI writing assignments and lesson planning. And, of course, life. I’ve yet to find that “pause” button allowing things to slow down a bit. I can’t say this is unexpected though. I know this will be a full, action-packed year! So far I’m loving it, Alan is hanging in there, and the kids are doing just fine. Well… they have become video game junkies, but otherwise doing fine! I dropped them off at school on Tuesday because UVEI didn’t start until a bit later and Alan really wanted to sleep in. He’s not used to these early mornings. :) When we got to school Lex asked if I was going to walk them to their classrooms. I said no, though inside I really wanted to say yes! I said “Daddy drops you off right here and I think I’ll do the same.” He considered it for a moment then said ok, gave me a hug, and ran inside. I think the separation was harder for me than it was for him! As it should be, I suppose.

Hmm… what else?! We mostly go to school and come home. Last weekend we were busy all weekend, but I don’t remember many details. We had a goodbye brunch with friends who are moving out of the country and we had some other friends over after school a few times this week. This weekend we have a flu-shot appointment. Hopefully we won’t have to drag Lex out from under the doctor’s desk like we did last year!

I’m trying to keep my jealousy under control as I think of most of my family in VA this weekend, visting Joyce! The kids and I were researching airline tickets yesterday. Still expensive! :( Alan said we should just hop in the car and drive down… and I thought real hard about that! Alas, I am a realist (and maybe a bit boring these days) and really can’t swing it. That and we would be ditching school in so many different ways! So we’ll stay here and just be with you in spirit!

Sleep

I have been so tired this week. The night before last (Thur/Fri) was a terrible sleep. I kept waking up thinking the alarm was going off. At one point the radio started making a weird static noise and woke us both us. Alan was awake off and on as well, so we both kept disrupting each other’s sleep. It was awful. When the alarm finally did go off, for real, at 5am I dragged myself out of bed. Last night, while putting the kids to bed, I had a little conversation with Lex about sleeping late on Saturday mornings. :) I suggested maybe he could try coming downstairs by himself when he wakes up at 6am. We’ve had this conversation in the past and he always rejects the idea immediately, but this time he said, “sure!” Two key changes here: he’s a bit older, of course, and he had a new computer game he loves to play. I think he thought getting up early without me would equal more computer time! :) This morning he got up at 6:25 (which is sleeping late for him!) and went right downstairs. I wasn’t sleeping well anyway, so I heard him get up, then I heard Eve get up, but I stayed in bed and dozed for awhile longer. I got up at 7:15am and found them both happily playing on the computer. It was worth it! Even the post-computer fuss when I told them it was time to shut down and come have breakfast was worth the extra time in bed! :)

One step closer

When I picked the kids up at daycare yesterday Lex was playing air hockey with a 4th grader. I came in, put my hand on Lex’s back, and said hello. The other kids says, to Lex, “Is that your mom?” Lex said yes and the other kid said, “Your mom is a teacher!”

Sweet!

Open house

Open house was tonight. It was very different than it has been in the past. For starters, my day went like this:
7:30am – parent meeting at school
8:15am – UVEI all day
3:30pm – errands
4:45pm – pick up kids from daycare, feed, and change them (Lex was a mess!)
6:00pm – open house, but this time I sent my kids to sit with friends while I stood in the teacher line! Alan got there a few minutes later, so I didn’t totally ditch my kids with others.
6:15pm – Hanging out in 5th grade. Eve was with a friend and Lex was with Alan. I’m chit-chatting with my 5th graders and their parents.
6:45pm – Sneak (not really) out to dash over to Lex’s room. He had a ton he wanted to show me, but he was spacey and couldn’t focus so we only got through a bit of it.
7:00pm (after the “closing time” announcement) – quick stop at Eve’s room. No one there. Fortunately the teacher is super nice so we stayed and chatted for a few minutes and she didn’t kick us out. :)
7:15pm – heading home with two tired kids. Actually, Alan took Lex home, so I only had one tired one in my car. Then all the usual snack (since dinner was early), shower, stories, etc.
8:15pm – homework! I’m writing my first lesson plan and I’ll be teaching on Thursday, so I wanted to get it done tonight to review with my mentor tomorrow.
9:30pm – Shutting down! Literally and figuratively. Morning comes early these days.

I missed wandering around with my kids, taking pictures of their work, and chatting with their teachers. Instead we rushed through the whole thing. Alan was there with them, but he doesn’t have the guided path of open house, he just followed behind them while they did whatever. :) I guess this is one of the many times I’ll have to switch hats (teacher/parent) quickly and only be partially present for both. Overall a good night though, not complaining.

Would you like my to post my full schedule every day? :)

The sweetest thing ever

It’s 5:30am. The kids’ bedroom door is cracked open. I peek in and see Eve, laying on her side, doggie tucked next to her head, reading light on, and a book propped open.  She’s reading silently to herself and doggie.  My heart melts and I once again wish for a photographic memory. 

On a side note, I wonder how long she’s been awake?

Eve bakes

Yesterday Eve was browsing through her fairy cookbook and decided to make some cookies. Her first choice, pink pinwheel cookies, didn’t work out because we didn’t have the right ingredients (much to my surprise we were out of powdered sugar!). After much deliberation she finally settled on pink sparkly heart cookies.

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Eve did all of the work on these cookies. Measuring, mixing, etc.

When the cookie dough was chilling in the fridge she went down to the basement and never came back, so she finished them this morning.

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She rolled out the dough and kept say “Oh, this is such hard work!”

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She cut out big hearts and little hearts, then got bored of the rolling/cutting process and started just making shapes with her hands.

topping

The directions said to brush with egg whites then sprinkle with sugar. She thought that process took too long so she asked why you can’t just go from egg white to sugar to cookie. I said “go for it!” She tried one (top left corner) and said, “Oh, they kinda get all messy when you do that.” Then she went back to the original way.

The first step of the recipe said to mix red food coloring with granulated sugar to make it pink. She decided she wanted purple, so she added red and blue food coloring. It ended up being a red/blue/purple combo.

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Into the oven they go. Like I said, she did everything!

I was right near by for the “into the oven” process, but a little more involved with the “out of the oven” process so no pics of that. She helped though. She wore oven mitts and held one side of the tray. :)

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Not quite what the picture showed, but all Eve.

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Her favorite part! :)