Growing Pains

I found out last night that Nikki is officially taller than me. I knew that she had been growing, but I had no idea that she'd passed me up. Caleb also surprised me today when I put him in the shorts that were to his knees in the fall, and they were entirely too short.

I guess I blinked. :(

Olympic Insomnia

Have I mentioned that Caleb likes to join us in bed in the middle of the night? Well he does. Frequently. Sometimes, he is polite and waits until Scott is already up and getting ready so that he just climbs in next to me and we sleep blissfully until Scott wakes us up. And then there are nights like last night. Nights where he is not so polite. Nights where 3:30 am seems like the perfect time to join Mom and Dad. And although last night was such a night, Dad was not feeling like 3:30 am was such a nice time for a visit, perhaps because Dad may be afflicted with his second round of strep this month, or perhaps because Dad was only about 30 minutes from his own alarm. Regardless, Dad wasn't feeling it and was being rather grumpy about it, which meant that Mom had to take Caleb back to bed and tuck him in and prevent hysterics. Which left Mom quite wakeful at 3:30 am. So what else is there to do at 3:30 am other than watch Olympic figure skating?? Which explains why Mom is quite tired tonight, and quite hopeful that Caleb remains in his own room for the duration.

Productivity

I had a four-day weekend. Well, technically I'm still having it. So guess what I've accomplished?

• Laundry done? Partly.
• Laundry folded? Actually it's piled on my bed WAITING to be folded.
  
• House clean? Um, no.
• Caught up on cookies? Negative.
• Valentines ready to distribute? Thank goodness for Costco's chocolate-covered strawberries.
• Finally tackled piles of things from the remodel? Ha ha. Funny.
• Book read? ABSOLUTELY.

So there you go.

Hooray for Presidents!

Thanks to our former presidents, we get a FOUR DAY WEEKEND! And even better, today the kids have school. This would be especially wonderful if Scott didn't have to teach Saturday School (Friday School?), but whatever. We may get to sneak in a few hours without kids. Grades are done and I refused to assign any more writing this week, so I think I'll go read the book I've been avoiding for two weeks. Hope your weekend is great, too!

Public School Blues

I'm not very good about blogging these days. And right now I should be sleeping instead of blogging, but I'm not so here we go.

In Caleb news, he is apparently attending school with a child who has a rather colorful vocabulary (okay, the kid cusses like a sailor) and these lovely little phrases have been making appearances at home. He was playing Mario Brothers with Tim, and Tim said it sounded like he said, "Son of a..." (He didn't actually finish it, but still!) Tonight, along with his fit about taking a bath (WHY does this come as a shock EVERY NIGHT??) he grumbled, "Goddammit!" Because I heard this one, a Q and A ensued:

Me: We don't talk like that. Where did you hear that word?
Caleb: I don't know.
Me: Did someone at school say it?
Caleb: Cary (I don't really know this kid's name, but this is what it sounds like when Caleb says it) said it. He say potty talk. That word is for the bathroom.

So apparently the teacher is on it, because there's no way that Caleb came up with that little speech on his own. Can I just say that I MISS CATHOLIC SCHOOL?!!!!!!!

Oh, and Caleb's audiologist's receptionist keeps calling me at home to make an appointment, presumably for a hearing test. So I call her back and leave her a message telling her to call me on my cell. Then she calls my house and leaves a message. It goes on and on. I think we've been doing this for two months now (maybe SHE needs hearing aids). I can't wait for Caleb to impress the audiologist with the new vocabulary he's picking up now that he can hear. *sigh*

Puzzling

I often feel like my life is a puzzle in which I am constantly trying to keep the pieces together. There is a Nikki piece, a Caleb piece, an Emma piece, a Scott piece, and then there are more family pieces for people who don't live in my house, and then friends. One piece is work, but sometimes work is three pieces named Peer Helping, Psychology, English, AVID, Saturday School, etc. Oh wait, I guess work is sometimes more than three. But you get my point, yes? The pets are a piece. My house is a piece that is constantly in need of attention. Church is usually one piece, but sometimes becomes more. Girl Scouts is usually one piece, except during cookie season when it multiplies. There's just a lot going on. And most days, I manage to keep the puzzle together, somehow fitting each piece into its proper place. Today was NOT one of those days.

Today was SUPPOSED to be Girl Scout Cookie, AP Super Saturday, Little League Sign-Up, Cookie Pick-Up, Emma's Birthday Weekend, and maybe A Play With Some Great People and Benefiting A Great Cause Day. Then my principal wanted me to do Saturday School, which conflicted with AP Super Saturday, so it was also Emma Babysit Caleb While Scott Does Saturday School for Cindy Day. But Emma went midnight bowling for her birthday and didn't get to bed until 3:00 this morning, so it was also Feeling Guilty About Waking Emma Up Early Day. And then it all changed.

Today became Take Nikki to the Doctor Because She Has Strep Throat After Picking Up Girl Scout Cookies Day. Then it was also Pharmacy Day and Maybe Make it Late to My Workshop Day, which gave way to Ah Forget It, I'll Take a Nap Day. But this offset Feeling Guilty Day, because Caleb went with us to the doctor. So I have no training, and Caleb did not get signed up for T-Ball (that's Tomorrow), but we have cookies and antibiotics, Emma got to sleep, and I'm going to a play!! YAY!

My point is that sometimes my pieces get messed up, lost, and yes, even destroyed. And I hope that the people who love me are forgiving enough to be okay with that. At least most of the time.

Rodent Overpopulation

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but Nikki got a bunny for Christmas. It was really not planned that way, but her friend Sami had some baby bunnies that needed homes, and Nikki decided it would be worth it to forgo an iPod touch (not that she was necessarily going to get one) in order to bring yet another furry creature into the house. So now we have two dogs, a cat, a fish, and a bunny. Meet Reeses (as in peanut butter cup):

But wait, there's more! This weekend we ALSO had the class chinchilla for the weekend. He's very sweet and we enjoyed his company, but check out the rodent corner of our house.

He'll be going back to school tomorrow.
Isn't he cute??