Monday, June 27, 2011

Crap, I Think The Boy is Plotting on Me

I’ve been looking at the boy with different eyes, lately.  I think he’s planning on getting rid of me as soon as possible.
You see, the other day we were driving through town and passed by an old folks home to which the boy seemed very interested in, maybe a bit too interested.
“Hey, mom, what is that place?”
Having passed by the residency several times I knew what he was asking about. “That’s an old folk’s home.”
A long pause took place before he continued, “What do they do there?”
“Well, when people get too old to really take care of themselves or no one is around to care for them they go live there where there are nurses and caregivers who take care of them.”
“Why wouldn’t someone be able to take care of them at their house?”
“Well, sometimes their children just can’t do it, or won’t.”
“Their own kids put them there?!?” he was shocked.
“Well, yes, sometimes.” (notice how I keep saying “sometimes” I don’t want The Boy to think he HAS to send me away when I get old).
Another long pause as The Boy is thinking hard on this one. “How old are they?”
“Who?”                                                               
“The people who live there, how old are they?”
“Oh, I’m not sure. It really depends.” I didn’t want to get into health, and maybe someone is just too sick to care for themselves even though they may not be OLD old.
We rode along in silence for a while, I thought he had dropped the subject, I was wrong. “How old are you, mom?”
My jaw dropped, “Um, yea, I’m not nearly old enough to go into an old folks home, not yet pal.”
Either he’s worried I’m going to run away to the old folks home and leave him to fend for himself or The Boy is already plotting on me!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Greatest. Find. Ever!!!

We love pillow pets in this house. All the kids have them, they go with us on trips and on vacation. Heck they go with us to the grocery store. So imagine my excitement when I saw this at Target:




Do you see that? It’s a Pillow Pet Pee-Wee. I think actually screamed a little scream when I saw the display (other customers in the area may or may not have ushered their children away from the crazy lady) which resulted in my kids TOTALLY FREAKING OUT. Okay, not totally. But The Boy definitely was not leaving the store without that turtle.
He claimed that (and these were his exact words) “Nobody will love him like I will, mom. Doesn’t he deserve that?”
Yes, yes he does. And that’s why  Tardy Turtle now lives with us.

p.s. Tardy Turtle loves Jon just as much as Jon loves him, he told me so!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Just Take the Medicine, Please!!!

I swear I could open a pharmacy with the contents that are in my fridge right now. It is jammed packed with antibiotics. Yes, I know you are supposed to throw them away when you finish your prescribed amount, but I can’t bring myself to do that. So I probably have nuclear waste in there.
We picked up The Boy’s latest prescription and hurried home to put it in the fridge (he says it tastes better with a good chill on it).  When it was time for his first dose (we had to wait 24 hours after the penicillin shot) he demanded “Lemme smell it first.”
So we’re gonna play that game again, huh? Fine. I took a sniff first and it smelled a little citrusy, not fruity like I had wanted, but I still held out hope that it would pass the sniff test. The Boy took a long whiff and scoffed, “It smells like handwash! Are you trying to get me to take handwash?”
Ok, first where did you even learn the word handwash? We say soap around here. “No, Jon, I’m trying to get you to take your medicine. And it’s not soap it just smells weird, okay?”
“That’ll make me sick! It’s poison! You really want to give that to me?”
*sigh* Really?
“Come on, buddy, just take the medicine. Please.”
“Fine, if you really want me to swallow handwash.” He leaned in and slurped up the spoonful. “Not bad………for handwash.”
Awesome, and only 19 more doses to go.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Father's Day Weekend Recap

Oh and what a weekend it was. Ugh.
For a few days this past week every time The Boy would practice at the batting cages he would complain of a headache and a sore throat. I chalked it up to being TOO DAMN HOT there! (here's a hint HCA get some air conditioning so the little guys don't fall out!) Then in the middle of the night the hubs started snoring so loud even the cat abandoned his comfy perch in our room. So I went seeking a  bed somewhere else. I headed to Hannah's room but found KK had already snuggled in with her big sis. I thought for a second about sleeping in KK's room, but I'm pretty sure her room is haunted and it stays a steady 46 degrees in there. I went to The Boy's room since he has a nice big queen sized bed but soon discovered he was burning up with a fever. Uh-oh!
By the morning (and a good dose of Tylenol later) he still wasn't up to par. I grabbed a flashlight and discovered his tonsils were swollen and covered in puss pockets (hope you weren't eating while reading this). I grabbed the phone, first to call his friend's mom to let her know The Boy was sick and their play date that was planned for that day had to be postponed. Then I called the pediatrician and they said "Bring him in now." So away we went.
They did a strep test, which came back negative and the doc said "No way, that's strep!" and gave him antibiotics which he was supposed to take twice a day for five days.
By Sunday morning his fever was now spiking up to 102.7 and his tonsils were even worse (should have been a lot better since he had taken half of his doses of meds). Happy Father's Day! I packed him up and we headed to the ER. Another negative strep test later the docs were scratching their heads.
They ended up giving him a shot of penicillin and putting him on a different oral antibiotic, but said if he wasn't improving by Tuesday then they would have to weigh the option of going ahead and admitting him to the hospital and tackling it there.
So much for a planned weekend at the beach. Poor Jon, I bet he would have had more fun there.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Who Loves a Great Deal on a Summertime Item? I Do, I Do!!!

Call me crazy but when I find an unexpected clearance item that fits our home/kitchen/life perfectly I get all giddy inside. Makes me wanna sing, but Jon always reminds me that I’m not the best singer, so I try to suppress that urge.
Today we were at Target (did I just hear angels singing? That happens every time I say “Target”, see it happened again? No? Just me?) looking for a birthday for my super-duper fantastic best mom in the whole wide world, make that the galaxy. Then I rounded the corner from greeting cards to housewares (okay, okay, it was a couple corners, but really who's keeping count?) and saw a clearance rack of brightly colored drinking cups and plastic bowls. Right there in the aisle I did a happy dance because they were so bright and festive that they just made me oh-so happy, and our family is big time tea drinkers, and as any and all tea drinkers will tell you when you drink tea, especially in the summertime you need a great big sturdy plastic cup. And these were pretty dang big (the sticker only says “tumbler” but no ounce value, take my word for it – they are huge!). Each tumbler pair was marked down to $.98 so I got a pair in every color. The kids wanted some of the mini-tumblers; those came in a pack of 6 on clearance for $.98. Then I grabbed cereal bowls, they came in 4 packs marked down to $.98. The kids disagreed on colors, so we grabbed a multicolored set, a blue set, a green set, and a red set. Then we saw they had mini-bowls (another happy dance may or may not have occurred at this time). They came in packs of 6, so we grabbed a red pack and a green pack.

Eleven items in all each marked at $.98 each. So it totaled $10.78 plus tax. That is half the cost of the six tumblers I got at Sam’s a couple weeks ago that my husband despises, plus with this haul I got SO MUCH MORE.
*sigh* I left Target (there goes the angels singing again!) a happy, happy woman.
Oh yea, we also found something else there that I’ll post on tomorrow. That way I can say Target again and hear the angels sing some more!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Take a Number and Get in Line

Last night, after a long day of running around with the kids, sweating profusely at the batting cages so Jon could get a few rounds in, and then battling with all three kids over which Father’s Day card they all could agree on (big, fat chance there) I gave in and decided to have a soak in the tub. This requires time (alone preferably) in the bathroom, and we all know how that goes (click here for a refresher).
Before I even stepped foot in the steaming hot water the kids started yelling out that they wanted to play Little Big Planet on the PlayStation 3. This is a mommy approved game and is A-okay for the kids to play here in this house. Sure it generally ends in the 5 year old screaming and yelling that the older two won’t wait up for her character and she gets angry and stops playing but I just wanted a few minutes of alone time. I yelled out for them to “Play away!” (actual words used) and lowered myself into the hot water to relax.
Approximately 72 seconds later I heard Jon hollering for my help which just wasn’t going to happen. “Momma, I need you!” I heard him yell, and could tell he was coming down the hall since his voice was getting louder. “Never mind!” He said – now his voice was just outside the door. “There’s a line to get in the bathroom.”
Huh? What’s that all about? I stayed as still as possible and could clearly hear the girls in the livingroom, so who could he possibly be talking about? Was there some kind of mass murderer lurking outside my bathroom door ready to pounce as soon as I opened the door? There goes my relaxed state, now every muscle in my body was tensed up.
“Hello?” I called out. Nothing.  Not even my kids answered me. By now I could hear them playing Little Big Planet. So whoever this mass murderer who was lurking outside my door he wasn’t out to kill my kids. That was a relief.
I got out of the tub, kind of irked that my bubble bath was shot but more worried that my kids may stumble upon my dead, lifeless body after they finish playing their video game and decide that they want something to eat and wonder just where is that woman who claims to be their mom and is supposed to furnish them with food?
I grabbed my can of hairspray since I don’t have mace in my medicine cabinet in the bathroom. I figure I’ll spray the creep’s eyes with Aussie MegaHold Hairspray and make a run for Jon’s bat bag where I’ll arm myself with his new Easton Surge and proceed to beat down the perp.
But when I yanked open the door ready to spray away no one was there. Then I heard a “Mew” and looked down. Guess who?


I went in the living room and asked Jon what he meant by his comment about the line for the bathroom, just in case there was a murderer in the house somewhere and he was just hiding out.
Aggrivated that I interrupted his game he hit the pause button and said “Calvin was in line first. I didn’t want to wait in line behind a cat.”
Good point, pal.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

In Corey’s Defense KK Doesn’t Really Articulate Her Words

Last week KK and Hannah went to VBS with their friends Kate and Will. I love that we have developed such a great friendship with their parents Susan and Derrick who we met through little league (Will and Jon are on the same Little League team and Corey and Derrick coach together). It was a great VBS program and both the kids had a wonderful time. Jon was at baseball camp so he wasn’t able to go, but the girls couldn’t get enough of it.
They came home singing songs and telling stories of how much fun they were having. There is something to be said about that, folks! It really warms my heart.
Anyhow, I went to the program on the last day of VBS, I got to hear all the little songs they sang plus I got hear them every day when I picked them up. Unfortunately my husband wasn’t privy to the songs or their lyrics. That coupled with the fact that KK does garble her words a bit just about gave him a heart attack when he heard her singing the “funky chicken” song:



He thought she was dropping the f-bomb all over the place.
Really, Corey? Just what kind of VBS did you think we were sending the kids to?

Monday, June 13, 2011

More Tough Questions From a Kid

So the other day The Boy asks me “Mom, why are adults mean to kids?”
Huh, where did this come from? I quickly scanned any recent memories to see if I was the culprit he was talking about. Unfortunately when I do this I always get a crazed, far off look on my face.
“I’m not talking about you.” He reassured me.
“Then what are you talking about?” I asked.
“At the ball park, when we were playing our game why were the other parents from the other team mean to us?”
SUCH A GOOD QUESTION!!!!        
Let’s flash back to a game a few weeks ago when our team was up to bat and we were in the lead, the other team obviously didn’t like it, and the parents in the stand became flat out nasty. When our players came up to bat they would yell at them, call out names (yes, actual names!) and try to distract them. Folks, this is full grown adults picking on 7 and 8 year olds. Pretty disgusting.
It got so out of control that the officials actually came down and told the coaches that this was the worst case of unsportsmanlike behavior that they have ever seen.
It upset me then, it upsets me now.
I know that the coach from the other team was reprimanded for what happened, seems that he likes to egg the parents on. Niiiiice.
But right now I had a little guy wanting answers. “Well, buddy, sometimes adults do really stupid things. I know what you’re talking about, and I’m sorry that happened. It wasn’t right. Sometimes the parents get so caught up in the game that they don’t think about what they are doing and they do things that are just wrong. I’m so sorry.”
He seemed to accept what I said and started to walk away, then stopped and said “Ya know, mom, adults can really ruin a game for kids.”
Keep that in mind, big people, keep that in mind. Wise words from a seven year old.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Red Lobster, Without the Bullets Please

We are on our way home the other day and The Boy “discovers” Red Lobster, as in the restaurant. He was very interested. I explained about what they served there as best as I could (seafood just isn't my cup of tea). And that was the end of the conversation, or at least from my stand point it was.
On our way to town the next morning he started to talk about Red Lobster and said he wanted “one of them lobsters.”
So I told him about having to crack them open to get to the meat. This excited him a lot.
Then he started talking about eating the lobster, and what he said just cracked me up, “I’ll have to be careful to take out the bullets. I don’t wanna swallow a bullet.”
Apparently, to a 7 year old getting a lobster to eat includes shooting him first.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Summertime Fun: Where Are You?

It’s officially summertime. School’s out and the kids are already asking me “What can I do? I’m bored.”
They Boy is going to Baseball Camp here. But that leaves The Oldest huffing and puffing. Then some nice lady at the ballpark told us about Camp Invention that they do up at Southern Miss and bells went off. We were sooooo excited. Then we got a little nervous because it’s through lunchtime and with The Oldest having The Problem and all were biting our nails and gnashing our teeth. But a quick phone call quieted any fears we had; we could pack a lunch for her. So we did a happy dance.
That left us with The Diva. We know she’ll be crushed if she doesn’t get to do stuff when her brother and sister are out at camps. So I’m researching places to go and things to do with her. Make it “Me and Mommy” time; which she typically adores. They have an indoor bounce center here, Kids Rule, where I think she’d love to go. But I think there would be mutiny in the Matthews home if the other two were left out. But I think it’d be great if she got to go somewhere first for a change, ya know? They always experience stuff first then she comes along and gets to do it. She’s the youngest that’s just how it goes. So it would be some kind of wonderful if she got to experience Kids Rule first and be all “In your face, big kids! I went first for a change!” Only that’s not her demeanor, that’s mine. She’d be all nice about it and say something like “I went to this bouncy place and you have to come. It’s great and fun. And you will love it.” That’s just the way she is, she wants to share the love and the fun and I think that’s great.
It’s times like these that I wish the Grandparents lived closer so we could have play dates. That is one thing that is hard being military, the distance from our family. Corey’s family is in Texas and my family is in Florida and we are in Mississippi. But…..deep breath because next summer we’ll be in Texas!
I’ll keep you posted on our summer activities!  

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Oh My Gosh, Oh My Gosh, Oh My Gosh

Wanna see something soooo cute?
I know you do. I just know it.
So here it is……

These are nestled in a planter on Connie's front porch. I love it! The kids are loving seeing these baby birds, too!