One more trip done.

Let me tell you, Facebook has turned me into a lazy blogger. L-A-Z-Y. Good thing I don't tweet! haha!

Theo, Ruby and I are home from Kansas City. We had a pretty smooth trip if you don't count two babies not sleeping on Sunday night.

Monday morning was tough. More waiting around than anything else. When Theo was taken back for his procedures, Ruby and I hightailed it to the snack shop. We were starved after three hours of waiting. Before we were even done eating, the doc was back with his report. Yeah, we waited around for three hours for 20 minutes of procedures!

OK, to be fair he did have some other things done after the doc was finished. And then another hour in the recovery room. I got a phone call from the recovery nurses. They couldn't figure out why Theo was so upset. I should have insisted on being with him immediately when he woke up. Why didn't I think of that? So, I told them to give him something to eat. That one surefire way to calm him down. He ate two pudding cups and drank a cup of juice before I got to see him. His little tummy was all big and hard. I thought for sure he was going to throw up. But no. So we left.

We drove back toward the hotel, but I needed to find a pharmacy to get some Ibuprofen and melatonin. No way was going to handle another sleepless night. We played around the hotel room for a few hours. Theo and Ruby were playing peek-a-boo with a baby blanket and I was making videos with the webcam on the computer when Theo finally threw up...on my bed. haha!! It figures, doesn't it?! Yeah, I caught him with the camera.

Theo had a quick appointment on Tuesday morning and then we headed straight for home. Our babysitting situation worked out. It wasn't ideal, but we all survived, right?

I wish we could just move to Kansas City so my boys would have everything we need at hand. These trips are getting old.

Sunday night in the city.

Against my better judgement, I took Ruby and Theo to McD*nald's tonight. You see, we are on the road. Theo's having some medical procedures done early in the morning at the big city children's hospital.

So, after 3 1/2 hours in the car, I wanted to make sure that Ruby would go to sleep at a decent hour. Hence the playplace! And yes, it was a disgusting as I imagined that it would be.

Blech.

I did have an interesting conversation there, though. I sat down next to a grandma with three of her grandsons. The grandma left the room to buy them some H*ppy Meal toys. One of the boys asked me why Theo was making funny noises. I explained that he spent 4 years in a lonely crib and made up funny noises to keep himself busy. The boy then told me about the baby in his mommy's tummy. :) How sweet!

He told me it was a boy and that would make four boys in his family. I told him I have 9 boys and two girls and his eyes about popped out of his head.

I nearly fell off my chair when he immediately asked me if I was a Christian. How about that? What a cool kid. I had fun chatting with them and grandma until they left. I'm glad I went to that nasty place after all. :)

I'm trying to get the Ruby and Theo to sleep now. We start early in the morning. Theo also has an appointment at the big city children's hospital clinic on Tuesday morning. But I'm having a babysitting emergency at home.

If I cannot secure a sitter for Tuesday morning I'll have to cancel the Tuesday appointment and head for home. Not looking good so far. If you are in my area and have suggestions, let me know.

Glad that's over!

I was so focused on cleaning up my kitchen yesterday morning, but I kept getting interrupted...in the good way!! I had some interesting and eye opening phone calls and chats with some very good friends. I didn't get many dishes done, but oh well! They'll keep, right?

I didn't have to worry about getting the kids ready for school so I talked and I chatted away. Ralph and Zhen only have school a few Fridays each month. And since Ralph's IEP was scheduled for 3pm I figured there was no school.

Closer to lunch time the phone rang. It was the elementary school nurse. By the tone of her voice I could tell something was wrong. There was an accident in PE class and Thomas had his teeth banged on a classmate's head. She had looked at him initially and sent him back to class, but he was back in her office complaining. I told her I'd be up to get him in a few minutes.

Then the phone rang again. It was the transportation department. Ralph and Zhen's school bus was out front waiting for them. WHAT! Oh dear! I had assumed there was no school today, but I didn't actually check the calendar.

Well there was no way I would get their shoes and braces on in less than 20 minutes so I sent the bus away with profuse apologies. I sat down and worked on shoes and loaded them all up in the van to go to school. They were only a minute or two late and the director even walked them into the building for me. Ralph wouldn't go in, though! He needed to see me drive away first I guess, so the director stood outside with him waving at me until the van was out of sight. Cute!

Then we drove over to the dentist's office, which is closed on Friday by the way. We called the emergency phone number and the dentist and his wife were there within 20 minutes. How nice! Thomas got an x-ray, which revealed no cracks thank goodness! But, one tooth was hanging very low and had been pushed in so that he could not bite down.

I watched while Dr. Coad glued Thomas' front teeth together with a big strip of enamel colored goop. It's kind of like buddy taping a broken toe. haha! We'll go back in about 10 days to have those teeth looked at again.

I was out of groceries, so we took a little trip to the store before taking Thomas back to school. I end up getting home with twenty minutes to shower and dress for Ralph's IEP meeting. No way! So I throw on a little extra deodorant and some damp jeans and head out the door again.

I'm thankful that Ralph is a good student and is making great progress. I feel like I'm on the same page with everyone on the team so his IEP's have gone smoothly so far.

After the IEP I have to go to the home improvement store to return some extra materials from our fence project. My HOMY had them all loaded up in the van for me. Wasn't that nice? So I returned the stuff and then went looking for some items that he needed.

This is where it gets funny. He could have just gone to the store himself, but no. So I called him no less than three times to make sure I was picking out the right things! There are 7 different kinds of concrete? Which one do I choose? How long does the drill bit need to be? Will 9/64" be ok because the 1/8" comes in a 2 pack and costs twice as much? And so on...

Anyway, it was a busy day. I put out a few fires, screwed a few things up, inconvenienced a few people, made some people mad, and helped some others. Pretty much like every other day of my life. I'm glad it's over!

A change of heart

After watching Theo take steps yesterday I had a change of heart. He is a big boy now and he doesn't need to have babyish long hair anymore. So I set him in the highchair on the back porch and started cutting. First with scissors and then finishing up with the clippers. This is how he ended up:

He looks so different, doesn't he? More grown up perhaps?

After watching me cut Theo's hair, and trim Zhen a little bit, Ralphie asked me to cut his hair. Really! He asked me!

We got about halfway done and he changed his mind!!

You can see Zhen in the background. Haircuts bend him out of shape a bit, but he didn't freak out quite as bad as last time.

What to do? Ralph is done...but his hair is not!

We pushed through and finished up.

Hair was everywhere.

Even in his mouth!

Phhttt! Yuk!

He looks so handsome too! What a beautiful day for haircuts on the back porch. We left lots of clumps of hair in the trees for the birdies to line their nests.

Fix you? Fix me.

I just scratched the back of my hand on a sheet metal screw.

This is the thing that drives me the most nuts...Zhenya is attracted to our air vents. He gets in trouble every single time and he goes back for more. Like a moth to a flame.

What is the payoff for him? He's got to be getting something out of it or he wouldn't go back to them time and time again.

I have to keep furniture on top of them so he can't get the covers off. The leg of his crib normally sits on top of the vent in his room. I didn't like the crib there so I moved it the other day thinking perhaps he had forgotten his naughty obsession.
Nope.

I just got done pulling a boatload of toys out of the duct. Why would he stuff all those toys in there? I'm just irritated. And bleeding.

I have a choice to let petty things like this drag me down. It's not the only petty thing on my mind. They distract me from my true purpose. Perhaps I'm more like Zhenya than I would like to admit.

I know that I should not dwell on minor irritations. I can not control the actions of other people whether they are 4 years old or 44. But I can't seem to help myself. I gotta fix things. I never learn.

So I'm going to attempt to treat Zhenya and others the way my undoubtedly irritated loving Father treats me...with large doses of grace and unconditional love. That's probably the only way to fix things.

DONE! Sorta...

Thanks to my hard working HOMY (husband of many years) this fence project is DONE! Phew! Now my children and dog can safely play outside without getting "lost" or "visiting" the neighbors.

Outside.

Inside.

It is difficult to see but the back is chain link. Even from the house it is barely visible. I can't wait to train some roses or vines to climb that fence.

There is just one problem...the wind. Yesterday and today have been extremely windy, even for our area which is a very windy area. Last night a storm rolled through and within hours of being finished, one of the new gates was destroyed. Isn't that disappointing? So next weekend will be all about shoring up the new gates and spreading some fill dirt in some low lying areas around the security perimeter. (I didn't want to type the word fence one more time.)

Some other things got done last weekend as well. We finally have our water well hooked up to power. Now I can water the lawn and fill baby swimming pools without inflating our monthly water bill. Just in time for watering and splashing season!

We also tested our A/C yesterday. Yes, I was ashamed to admit it, but the house was hot and we were all working hard so we turned it on. Cra-zay!! Today it's not even 50F outside. Gotta love springtime in Kansas.

Daddy said she could not have a pony. Just kidding! If Ruby ever asks her daddy for a pony she will most likely get one! SHHHH!!!! My three afternoon schoolboys, waiting for the bus. After many wet, gloomy days this week we finally got a taste of Spring. I didn't plan to dress them all in blue and red. It just sort of worked out that way!

Something BIG is going on here this weekend. Actually for the past few weeks...it's going slow but finally picking up steam.

Can you guess?

I picked up this nifty staple gun from the rental place this afternoon. I like the feel of power tools in my mitts! There would be 10,000 staples in that little box. Wow!

This pallet of stuff has been sitting for a month! Our order was shipped incomplete. :( This caused a HUGE problem between us and the home improvement store. HUGE. Trust me.

Hey look! Isn't that purty?

Jordan told me last night that our new fence looked good but that Ralph would just climb right through it! haha!

It's not done yet, but almost!! I'm so excited! Ralph ran away three times a few weeks back when the weather was very nice. He's just very independent and likes to "visit" the neighbors. Our neighbors don't appreciate this as much as he thinks, so this layer of backyard security is way overdue.

I'm still looking at options for front yard security. I'd like to have several layers if you know what I mean!