I need more energy! Ha. Everytime I think of doing this something else comes up and I never get around to it. I think though that my kids may actually be napping right now which is allowing me a few extra quiet moments to myself.

Z Man had a great birthday. We were originally going to take him to the Museum, however it was calling for snow and The Teacher had to be back to school for a game by 3:45. So we scratched that idea and went to lunch at TGI Fridays and then took the kids to Chuck E Cheese's. They had a fun time and are talking about going back.

Princess M is doing incredible with her cast. It is funny to watch her figure out new ways to do simple things or only with one hand. She is resilient that is for sure. I am hoping that come February 10th, we get this bad boy taken off. She actually just came out of her bedroom freaking out because she swallowed a little gem tattoo thing that sticks to your skin. She apparently scaled her furniture (broken arm and all) and grabbed the box down and was playing with them and thought hey let's put that in our mouth! I swear she is going to give me lots and lots of gray hair and cause me to have a major breakdown. I am now waiting for the doctors office to reopen so that I know if I should be concerned. I am thinking that they will probably just tell me to ride it out since it was so tiny, but I want to make sure.

The Teacher is almost done with his basketball season and has been doing pretty good considering most of his freshman players have been pulled up to different levels. We went and watched his game last Tuesday and the kids were very excited to see him coach. Princess M kept wanting to go over to him during the game. They did get bored towards the end because it was going slowly. I will say that I am glad that I do not teach especially high school students. They have horrible mouths on them. They did not care that there were two little kids sitting there. They were dropping all swear words and driving me crazy.

Alright waiting on a doctors phone call.

Happenings around the house

In our home, there is seriously never a dull moment. So let's see if I can do a quick recap:

On Christmas Day, while at my grandparents house, Princess M was playing with Z Man, my uncle and cousin in their living room and tripped over her own 2 feet and hit her head on the corner of their coffee table. Blood everywhere! We got the blood kinda cleaned up so we could access the cut and discovered that it was pretty deep and would require stitches. So we put on a bandage that will hold until we get to the emergency room and off my mom and I go with Princess M to the hospital. The Teacher stayed behind with Z man because he was worried about his sister and didn't want him to leave too. It was fine. We are used to making these kinds of runs with our kids solo. My dad ended up driving The Teacher and Z Man back to their house for me. All in all, Princess M needed 4 subdermal stitches and 7 stitches to finish closing her head. She did amazing and everyone commented to us on that. I say it's because she is an old pro at this. We went to a different hospital this time, so we are just making our rounds through the local hospitals. We were in and out though probably within an hour and a half. So not bad. It's bad when I access how long it takes us to get stitches.

We had a pretty calm New Years. We don't usually do anything. I didn't even make it up until Midnight. I was woken at 12:01 am courtesy of some neighbors who were blowing off some fireworks.

Things in our house were starting to get back to normal. Which for us, is always fun. The Teacher went back to school, Z man started back to school, and Princess M started back to Dance Class. I always was going to work so there was no difference for me! Ha!

We were preparing for Z Man's birthday party on the 15th. Our month was going along great! However, as we all know, that only lasts for so long in our house. This past Tuesday (01/11/11), the kids finally were back at the babysitters house. I was talking to our babysitter about our Christmas and so on. I left to go to work only to get a phone call an hour later from her telling me that Princess M had fallen and was crying and holding her arm. She had been crying for the past half hour and nothing was calming her down. Thankfully we were slow at work, so I was able to leave early to go see what was going on. I thought that maybe she just needed to see me and she would be fine. Well, my mom got out of work early and was there before me. Her arm was swollen and any movement made her cry. I called the doctors office and had them call over an order to get an xray done on her arm. We went to the ER where she had finally calmed down and was doing okay. They took xrays of her wrist as that was what we initally thought she had hurt. That xray didn't show anything and when the doctor had come in to exam her, decided to order xrays of her forearm and elbow because of the amount of pain she was in when she was moving that around. Thankfully Princess M was okay with the xray machine this time. I think it is because I was holding her and she didn't have to lay there. She has broken her leg before and was petrified of the machine. This new set of xrays reveals a small fracture on her ulna. So, we get a temporary cast put on her and off to the orthopedic doctor we were going to have to go.

We finally got her hard cast on her on Thursday. She chose hot pink and it is pink! Thankfully I can put some long sleeve shirts on her because it is not too thick.

Z Man had an amazing Birthday party on Saturday. We are so blessed and fortunate to have amazing friends and family in our lives. Tomorrow is his official birthday and I cannot believe that he is going to be 5 years old. I still remember him being a baby and holding him. Now, he is this walking talking smart little boy. I love him so very much. We are probably going to be taking him the Musuem tomorrow (it's a free day) and then going to The Teachers basketball game.

So those are the happenings around our house. Ridiculous huh?!?!?

Merry Christmas

I cannot believe that it is Christmas. I swear this year has just flown by. I guess that is what happens when you are so busy.

Z Man had to Christmas program last week and he did amazing. He got a solo part where he had to name all the reindeer and he sang it perfectly. I was beyond proud of him. Now he is done with school for the next week or so, which it is kinda nice not having to rush out of the house in the morning.

We have no real plans for today, which is how we like it. Santa's Elves will be dropping off some Christmas jammies to the kids as soon as Z man and the Teacher wake up from their nap. We are just having a nice dinner at home and hoping that the kids go to bed at a decent hour since I have to still wrap presents for them. Bedtime has not gone very well the last couple of weeks, so I have been unable to do it.

Tomorrow, my in-laws typically come over, but The Teacher's stepfather is in the hospital with pneumonia so we are not sure what is going on yet. The kids will be disappointed if they don't see them, but obviosly we only want for everyone to be healty. We usually go to my grandparents for dinner on Christmas Day. This way we don't have as many presents to drag home with us, and it only means we have to travel to one place.

I can't wait until tomorrow morning when the kids wake up and see their presents. I know that are going to be so excited to see the presents under the tree. They have been asking for the past few weeks if it was the day Santa was coming. Now we can finally say, yes!

I am such a scrooge as well though because my Christmas tree and decorations will be down tomorrow. In my defense, the tree is in the kid's play area so with all the new toys, it is necessary for us to take it down. Plus, I am a person who needs structure and normalcy. I can only handle Christmas for so long.

So Merry Christmas to everyone!

Weekend

So my weekend recap is happening a few days after the weekend ended, but at least I am doing one.

On Saturday, Z Man had soccer practice again and The Teacher had to take him as I was working. Thankfully it worked out. Z Man had an okay practice I guess. He had issues with pushing and what not, but I guess that almost all the kids did so he fit right in! I think that the Teacher being there intimidates Z Man because The Teacher has a hard time separating his football players from his son. He wants him to be the greatest when it reality Z Man has never played before and is only 4 years old. He did pretty good yesterday when I took him and The Teacher showed up later. He has fun which is all that matters.

On Sunday, we got free tickets to see the Windy City Thunderbolts which is a baseball team that is a part of The Frontier League, so no affiliations with big league teams, but these guys get paid to play baseball. My parent went with us and the kids. Z Man had a blast. Although I think he was more excited about the Sno Cone. At least he was excited about the sno Cone right up until it fell out of the cone and landed on the ground. He was quite devastated then. Z Man pretty much sat there and watched most of it. Princess M really wasn't into it, which I didn't really think she would be. She wanted to get up quite a bit and walk around, which was fine.

I hate that we have to really reserve fun times for Sundays, but that is how it will be for the next several months. This Saturday, my parents are taking us (the kids and me and maybe the Teacher if he gets out of his game early enough) to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was supposed to be a Z Man and grandparents day out, but we know that Princess M would love it too. So we are tagging along.

Z Man's First Soccer Practice

Yesterday was Z Man's first day of soccer. He had been talking about going for a while, so we decided to sign him up through the Park District. He was quite excited when he learned he would be going. We bought him Shin Guards, Soccer socks, a jersey from the Park District, and his very own soccer ball. His practice is from 6-7 and it was kinda nice because The Teacher got out of his football practice earlier than we had thought so he was able to go to the practice. I did discover that The Teacher has a difficult time just letting Z Man just go with the flow. It is a non compete league so everything is just fun. The first few weeks is just teaching the kids the fundamentals about soccer. The Teacher wanted him to be great. I had to keep reminding him that they are kids and just learning. Nobody is expecting them to be awesome.

At one point, his team The Earthquakes were all standing in a line and were going to kick the ball. Z Man looks over at The Teacher and myself and whispered (mouthed) Thank you to us. It was too cute. He had an absolute blast which is all that matters.

We had some problems with trying to convince Princess M that she could not be standing next to Z man and that she had to stay near us. She eventually was content with taking the camera and pretending to take shots of Z Man and us. She was on her knees trying to get the perfect shot. I wish that she didn't have the camera so that I could have taken a picture of her doing this. It was so cute and absolutely hilarious.

Bedtime proved to be quite a issue because both kids were overtired. My Mom said that they did end up falling asleep when she was driving them home, but apparently that was no where near enough sleep for the two of them. Eventually they both did fall asleep. And eventually they both ended up in our bed last night.

On a different note, I blogged last about how my parents had to put their dog Holly down because she had been run over and there wasn't much they could do to guarantee her quality of life. Yesterday was the first day I had gone over to my parents house since it happened on Sunday. It was definitely weird not to hear Holly barking at me when I walked up the driveway or see her find your feet to sit on. I miss her a lot. Z Man still says every so often that he misses Holly but says that she is in Heaven. The other 3 dogs seem pretty unphased by it, but I think my other parents dog is seeking more attention and wants to be around everyone more.

RIP Holly

So yesterday was a sad day in our family. An accident happened and their one dog was run over. She was rushed to the Animal Hospital but it was determined that it would cost way too much money and make the poor dog endure way too much pain in an attempt to make her okay. It is devastating for my family. I feel horrible for my parents and brothers. It was my parents dog.

I was obviously upset and I had a hard time concealing this from my kids. Princess M kept asking me while I was crying and I knew that I was going to have to explain to the kids what happened. They spend a lot of time at my parents house since my mom watches them for me and even though they weren't going to there tomorrow, my mom was going to be watching them at my house. I struggled with the words to tell my 3 and 4 year old about this. The Teacher quickly volunteered not to explain (although in the end he helped). We have never dealt with this before. We have had a few family members pass away, but it was when the kids were really young and to people that they did not know. I dodged a few bullets there. This one though I knew I wasn't going to be able to dodge.

So we sat the kids down and tried to explain in the best way possible that Holly had an accident and that the animal doctor was unable to fix her up so she went up to doggy heaven. They are so sweet and innocent that they asked if she would be back at Grandma and Grandpa's tomorrow. We explained no, but it was a difficult conversation. Z man ran to his room and was crying so I was explaining to him again and just trying to comfort him. Princess M I think was more feeding off everyone else crying so she was crying as well.

I had a difficult time falling asleep last night because I was feeling horrible for my brother especially. The kids seem to be doing okay. I am more concerned about Tuesday when they go to my parents house and realize that Holly isn't there.

Death I understand is inevitable but it is the hardest thing to explain to children. I know that Holly is up in Doggie Heaven running around playing, but I do wish she was still here to pet and play with!

Our weekly Schedule

It is sad to say but summer is coming to an end. For us, the end of summer gives way to a hectic and chaotic fall. As if our fall wasn't already crazy enough, we decided to sign Z man up for soccer. He will be going 2 days a week Tuesdays and Saturdays. We know that he will love it. He is talking about it nonstop. He needs this structure for sure.

I am writing my schedule out so that I can feel I have a better handle on this. Our calendar on the fridge is filled up every day. There is always something going on. Not necessarily with me or the kids, but when The Teacher works/coaches, it means that we have a new routine/schedule.

So our Mondays: The Teacher leaves by 6:30 am, Z man starts school at 8:45 which means we have to leave our house by 8:20ish to ensure we make it there on time. Princess M will be starting dance class soon, so soon after dropping Z man off at school, we will rush over to the dance studio where Princess M will have an hour long dance class. After dance class, we will go and pick up Z man and rush so that I amy be able to drop the kids off at my friends house by 11:40ish and then rush to work. I work til 8 pm, The Teacher works until 7ish. I am really hoping my mom is able to talk to work and that she is able to get Mondays off so I can just drop the kids off at her house and not rush so much!a

Tuesdays: The Teacher leaves at 6:30am. We thankfully have nothing to do in the mornings! Realistically, it will be me doing laundry and changing sheets, etc. We will have to leave our house by 11 am so that I can drop the kids off at my friends house. My mom will pick the kids up and take them back to her house. I will then leave work at 4, run to my parents house, eat dinner, and get Z man ready for soccer. Soccer is from 6pm-7pm. After soccer, we will head home for baths and bedtime routine. Hopefully the same time we get home, The Teacher will be home as well and he can assist.

Wednesdays: The Teacher leaves at 6:30am. Z man has school, so off we go by 8:20am. After dropping Z man off at school, Princess M and I will probably either run errands or go back and hang at my parents house. Once school is over, we go to pick him up and then once again rush to get to my friends house to drop the kids off. I will work from 12-5pm and then go to my parents house for dinner. This day will be hopefully the day The Teacher gets out of work earlier (if they have a Thursday game)

Thursdays: Our day of absolute nothingness. I will cherish this day! The Teacher will have to work, but the kids and I will have absolutely no set plans. We will probably do stuff but at least we don't have to do anything. It may very well end up being my cleaning day. Who knows and who cares! I know I don't! If The Teacher has a game on Thursdays, we might go to the game and see him. He doesn't seem to have a lot of Thursday games though!

Fridays: I thankfully don't work, but Z man does have school again. The Teacher is nonexistant this day. He leaves at 6:30 in the morning and that is the last that the kids see of him. He typically does not get home until after 10 on this night (due to Varsitys schedule). It is a long day for me. The nights are lonely as I am home by myself, but I make due with movies and watching the Tivo'd shows I missed during the week. Plus one of my favorite shows has moved to Friday nights. We will have dinner at my parents or grandparents house so thankfully, I only cook dinner on Thursdays in my house! ha ha! Life is good. I dread Fridays though.

Saturdays: I work every other Saturday from 8-2. We have it I believe planned out so that someone will be able to take Z man to soccer practice on the days I am unable to, since he has practice from 10-11 am. The Teacher has either practice or games on these days. I am lucky to have great parents and in laws who will help out as needed.

Sundays: Our day of rest or family day. It's also grocery shopping day. At least we are all together and that is what matters.

I stress out right now over this schedule but I know that the first few days will be hard, but then it will get easier for us. We get by and that is all that matters!