All Choked Up

Every time I hear or think about this crash and the heroism involved, I can't stop the tears from forming.

Wordless Wednesday: Ice Storm of 2008

Monday Morning Blues

Years ago, when the weekends officially started on Thursday evening and ended late Sunday night, and the fun was non-stop, and the days were filled with four wheeling or swimming or sledding or tubing, and the nights were filled with bar-hopping or pitch or crashing weddings, I discovered the Monday Morning Blues. Mondays were always back to reality. Back to work. Back to the real world. It was always the hardest day in the week to get through because of coming "down" from such a great four day weekend.

Well this past weekend was one of those kind of weekends. I laughed and cried and reminisced and flirted and laughed and laughed. It was just so much fun and it felt so good.

So thank you Mia, Sue, Karl (packets of sugar were not a bad bribe), Upchuck, Molly, Cody, Rylee, the guy with the "L" on his forehead, Aimee, Joanie, Robin, Chris, Thomas, Joyce, the boys, Hannah, Mellon, Sheryl, Jordan, Connor, Abby, Jeff, Barb (hopefully you got some quality study time), David, Pauly, Jenn, and even Art, who took some pictures of us, for giving me the Monday Morning Blues. It's awesome!

The Humor in OCD

At about 13 months of age I started to wonder if Ry has a touch of OCD. What triggered it was her constant need to arrange all the shoes, dolls, clothes, toys, books, and whatever else intrigued her, into neat and orderly rows. What really pushes me towards that thought is her inability to let something that isn't "right" go. For instance, at the ripe old age of 18 months, she zipped up the door to her tent and started to walk away. She got about 10 steps away, gasped, turned around, went straight back to the zipper and "fixed" it. By fix I mean the zipper was stuck facing up instead of laying down flat. Once she corrected it, she could continue with her playing.

Since then, I have learned to pick my battles with her. I allow her as much independence as she can safely handle, I explain any changes to her schedule as far in advance as possible, and I sure as heck cut the crust off her toast, even though she eats them anyway (thanks Mom for doing that "just for fun").

Now it seems to have spread into how she sees herself. She is having meltdown after meltdown over her clothes! It started with her "hating" the clothes I picked out. Soooooo, I let her pick out her clothes. Then it was getting to take too much time in the morning because she would need to change three or four times times. Soooooo, I have her pick out her clothes the night before. And that was working well, until now.

Now she starts trying on her clothes, for the next day, at night. And the belt is stupid, the jeans are too tight, the dress is ugly, the shirt doesn't match, the socks do match, the heart on her pants is covered by the shirt, etc. This is what she does at night, before bed. Then we repeat the whole thing in the morning.

This morning, she put on jeans and a blue shirt with sparkles. I told her how pretty she looked and I went into the bathroom, asking her to get her shoes on. In the time it took me to blow dry my hair, she had changed in and out of the jeans three times and swapped shirts twice.

We had plenty of time so I just let her do her thing. And when she emerged from the bedroom the final time, she had the sweetest smile, so proud of what she looked like, I couldn't help but kneel down beside her, give her a big hug, and tell her how awesome she is. She is just too funny and I love it.

Wordless Wednesday: A Brother's Love

Cody sometimes gets irritated with Rylee and he sometimes acts like he could care less about her....but now I have proof how much he really truly loves her. Ahhhhh.

Looking Forward

I got to thinking last night about 2009. There are quite a few big events happening this year that are kind of exciting.

I, along with quite a few good friends, will be turning 40 this year. This, of course, gives us all an excuse to have one party after another and to get together and to possibly go away if funds allow. Yeah!!!

I will be graduating in May. Well, technically I have already graduated but I will be walking the walk in May. In front of the kids and my parents and some friends.

Molly will have her 8th grade dance and graduation in June. Hard to believe her middle school years will be coming to an end.

With some of my tax return money, I will be purchasing two roundtrip tickets to South Dakota so Molly and Cody can go see their Dad. They miss him terribly and I know that they need to see him. So they will be going to SD for 3 weeks when school ends and even though Ry and I will miss them, I know that it will be worth it for them. They need to see him again. It's been way too long.

Rylee will begin preschool in September. And Molly will begin high school. HOLY COW!!!! A little nerve-racking but definitely exciting.

So much to look forward to this year. But I know in my household this morning, nobody is looking forward to going back to school, or daycare, or work. It's been a very good two weeks and we are all going to have a little adjustment this morning. Time to get it started!!

Happy New Year

I have never been one to make goals with the beginning of each New Year. I have never been one to look foward to one year ending and a new one beginning. I have always kind of had an issue with letting go when it's time to let go. The time leading up to both my 8th grade and high school graduations were more sad than exciting for me. The end of every hockey season leaves me mopey for a couple of days, the end of each "stage" the kids goes through makes me wish I could freeze time, even the end of a good book leaves me sad. To be honest, it can be pretty silly at times. Like when I traded in my truck for the Xterra I now own....I was secretly wishing the deal wouldn't go through and I teared up every time I glanced out the window and saw my big blue monster in the lot. I really am that silly!!!

But the past two years have been very hard for us and I can honestly say that I have no reason to not be happy they are over and excited for 2009. And with that excitement, I seem to have strung along a few goals (and needs) for myself. I have done a tremendous job of really getting things on track for the kids and I and I can't help but continue that progress.

One was that I wanted to take the time to actually read a few books this year. With the exception of required reading for school, it has been 9 years since I have read a book. 9 years!!! The last time was when I took the kids to Disney World and read in between their naps and swimming. So, at the stroke of midnight on New Years, I whisked the kids off to bed, opened up my closet, plucked a book from the shelf, and read 3 chapters. The next morning, while Ry colored and read her own books, I continued to read and because it was a lazy day for us, I ended up finishing the book that evening.

Another goal is that I want to get back into the habit of reading to the kids at night. Even Molly and Cody. Over time, we somehow lost that and I want that back. So today, we stopped at the library and picked out a book for me to read to them and a couple of books for each of us to read on our own. This would never have happened if we hadn't slowed things down a bit. We have been so out straight for so long that we have had to learn how to relax again.

I need to get healthy again. I have always worked out and enjoy it but this year I need to step it up a notch or two. I need to work myself a little harder and I am hoping to run at least one half a marathon this year.

I need to spend some one on one time with the kids. They need individual attention and I need to provide that to them. My plan is for Cody and I to begin an indoor archery league next week and for Molly and I to participate in some sort of writing workshop, or something similar, if there is anything like that around here. If not, we can just hang out or go to a movie or whatever she wants each week.

I need to have some time to myself as well. It's so easy to get caught up in doing things for everyone else and the kids but this year, I want to find a hobby or something that I can enjoy for me.

So those are my goals for this year. Pretty basic but definitely worthwhile.