What a week it's been...

Let's see - Brennan's school violation was due to a confusing and badly written policy. Bottom line is, he can't wear any tops of any kind with pictures or words on them. Lovely! We'll deal with it though - now that we know the real policy :-)

My pink eye is STILL hanging on....I can't believe it. It's been 6 days today and lucky me - it's moving to my right eye. I am treating both eyes, they're looking better and I hope by Tuesday I can wear eye makeup again. As my VP told me yesterday (yes I went to work), I looked like I was on POT. NICE huh?!!

Brennan's poison oak (or ivy) is still hanging on as well, but showing much improvement. The kids had gone through an entire bottle of Benadryl (liquid) himself. Good grief - these infectious "diseases" hang on forever.

First week of school has been good - Brennan is still Brennan when it comes to pre-k. He asked my mom if he could stay at her house last night so he didn't have to go to school today - lil stinker! When I told him that Friday was the day he could buy ice cream after lunch his song and dance changed dramatically :-) Thank goodness for ice cream. The girls are doing great...McKenna is showing slow progress with her reading which is frustrating for me since last year she seemed to be the stronger reader out of the girls. Alyssa is blowing by her and doesn't have much patience when McKenna is trying to sound out words. SO Alyssa has to read away from McKenna so that she doesn't harrass her or make her feel bad for being slower at it .... that's siblings for you I guess :-)

Bad news - our AC broke on Thursday. Good news - it's fixed now and it wasn't stifling hot on Thursday night. BAD, BAD news - it cost us almost $800 to fix it. Our house is 4 years old....that was sad :-(

But today made everything better....David had to go in for an important meeting with his boss and his bosses boss....ended up it was to congratulate him on a job WELL done regarding a project he'd been working on. He got a plague, a signed letter from the CEO of Verizon AND $500 in travelers checks!!!!!! WOO HOO :-0 Way to go honey! I told him to buy himself a new golf club, we'd celebrate this weekend and put the rest in savings to help offset the cost of our AC repairs. I'm so happy for him - he worked so hard on that project and was so stressed out, that it's nice to see he was rewarded....and more importantly, that people noticed his efforts.

It's been a crazy week, but it's Friday - long weekend ahead and the promise of beautiful weather...which means lots of golf for us, dinner out, time at the park with the kids (feeding the ducks) and some down time at home. Enjoy the holiday weekend all!

Back to school

Well today was the first day of school for the girls and Brennan...and all went well...for the most part! The girls looked adorable in their new dresses (pics and a short video to come) and Brennan was cute too in his plaid shorts and polo shirt that said "Old Navy" on it. Apparently, the cute shirt that my cute boy was wearing was in violation of the school's dress code policy, but we aren't sure why yet. The policy states "t-shirts/sweatshirts should not have slogans, words or pictures on them. They will be plain, plaid or stripes, but are not allowed to have words or pictures." Case in point...my son had on a polo shirt - short sleeves, collar and buttons- NOT A T-SHIRT! So tomorrow I'm going to approach the principal with said shirt in hand, along with the un-signed violation notice and the dress code policy for a clear explanation of why his shirt was in violation. Now, don't get me wrong - I can understand policies, dress codes, etc. and I go out of my way to make sure my kids are dressed appropriately, but this is ridiculous! Stay tuned on the shirt issue!!!

The girls had a great day - Mrs. Brace is their 1st grade teacher and tonight we did our recommended reading and boy was I proud....Alyssa read great! David read with McKenna and said she did good, but was struggling with some words she shouldn't be struggling with...ing words. It's ok, we'll work with her and bring her back up to speed. Alyssa recognized words like "leather, bridle, easily" without my help - I was impressed! So the year is off to a somewhat positive start and I hope it continues in the same direction.

Pink eye still sucks - eye is burning, swollen, itchy and red - and work is probably out of the question on Tuesday....I fear retaliation if I show up tomorrow :-) Thank goodness email is accessible no matter where I am...for the most part.

G'night everyone!

From Poison Oak to PINK EYE

Oh yes - it went from poison oak to pink eye ... only this time it's not Brennan who has it, it's ME :-( This is the 2nd time I've ever had pink eye and I hope it's the last. It started last night - draining, a little pink, itchy - and I knew when I woke up this morning it would be full-blown pink eye and boy was I right! Now it's red, draining constantly, was sealed shut this morning and hurts/is swollen....all like last time. But what's even better about this is that I'm supposed to be at jury duty tomorrow morning and I have no idea if this is excusable, should I call or show up, will they let me go to the doc to get some eye drops - who knows?! I know it's extremely contagious and that most people will not want me around, but when it comes to jury duty I have no idea what to expect because this is my first time for jury duty. I certainly don't want pink eye - but I definitely don't want pink eye AND being stuck in a court room all day tomorrow without access to my doctor and/or medicine. So wish me luck tomorrow and hope that they'll excuse me!

Other than that, the past week/weekend was good. Brennan's poison oak (or ivy?) is doing better, but it's still not gone. I had no idea it took this long for it to completely heal. At least his face is clear now - people won't look at him like a freak tomorrow during his first day of PRE-K....which I can't even drop him off b/c of this god awful jury duty ... as you can imagine, I'm not very happy about that OR missing the girls getting on the bus tomorrow morning to go to their first day of FIRST GRADE! Wow where has the time gone? I think the older I get, the faster it goes!

Our weekend involved lots of golf (surprise, surprise huh?!), eating out, shopping for the girls dresses for tomorrow....my first introduction to Limited Too - whoa, that is super expensive, but very adorable! I'm a sucker for cute clothes :-)

Off to watch Big Love and begin the week again. G'night!

My first look at poison oak

Yep that's what Brennan has - at least that's part of what's wrong - poison oak! I had a feeling, but considering I've never had it or seen it up close and personal, I couldn't be sure. On his face, forehead, back, legs, arms and shoulders...it's disgusting! He also has a virus which is causing bumps on his stomach that are different from the poison oak patches. And he's still running an on again/off again fever...AND he has a cold. Poor lil guy :-( He's been such a trooper today. Benadryl liquid, tylenol or motrin for the fever and Benadryl cream for the actual rash. It's been quite a day for him, but he's doing well.

Tonight the girls started soccer practice. For McKenna this is easy - 3rd season for her and she loves it. But for Alyssa, this is her 1st time ever. She's not much on running so we're anxious to see how this will go for her - tonight was great. She seemed to really enjoy it and her, McKenna and Jayci had fun...down to the group hug they shared before parting ways. It was absolutely adorable...one of those moments you wish you could capture on video camera, but that never works out right.

Another thunderstorm tonight - which means no sleep for us - kids will pile in the bed one-by-one throughout the night I'm sure. Just one of those things!

That's all for tonight - just for you Karen & Kristen - a much shorter post :-)!

Oh What a Weekend!

What an exciting weekend we've had around here....I'm not even sure where to begin! Let me back up to Friday and start from there...

My mom and I went to the Keith Urban concert and it was awesome :-) Thanks to my friend Carlo, we were 7 rows from the front of the stage, on the floor, and close enough to touch him. Unfortunately, there were tons of other people wanting to do the same so we weren't able to do much touching. But we got a great concert! I wasn't too thrilled about going - headache, tired - but in the end (or maybe 1/3 of the way through it) I was so happy I went. We had a fantastic time.

Saturday during my morning hugs with Brennan it dawned on me that he didn't have a pull-up on. When I asked about, David informed he had decided to let him wear big bog underwear to bed and he had a very successful night - he made it all night without peeing :-) I am sooooo proud of him, but sad at the same time - this officially marks the end of any "babyhood" with him. He was so proud of himself and since then all nights have been successful. This was pretty ironic since just last week Karen, Krissy and i were talking about him being in pull-ups still and i was certain he'd be in them for quite some time, but boy was I wrong! I'm sure he'll have an accident at some time, but that's ok - I am happy to be rid of pullups :-)

That night we hired a new babysitter and it worked out really well. David, Kerry, Michael and I got in a good round of golf (I actually shot a 120!!!) and the weather was amazing for an August afternoon. Heather did a good job with them and they realled liked her. The only problem was Brennan - he wasn't feeling well and had fallen asleep on the couch before 8 p.m. - this is simply unheard of with him or any of our kids - so we knew he wasn't feeling well. When we came in, he heard Alyssa say "mommmmeeee's home" and barely opened his eyes. I picked him up, sat him on my lap to talk to him (he was on fire - fever) and within a minute he had puked all over my nice, clean WHITE short and blue shirt.....pizza to boot. Heather was of course thankful we had gotten home when we did and I just stunk! I changed, David (bless his heart) got my shorts clean and we headed off to bed....until about 3 a.m. when Brennan woke up again. Gave him more medicine (again he was on fire) and not 5 minutes later all the medicine was back up again - yes, more vomiting. Carpet, ladder to his bed, him...another big mess. So on our floor he went (not trying to be mean to him, but didn't want our bed to be next!!! ha ha) - I made him a pallet on the floor and at 3:30 a.m. he's watching Scooby Doo, burning up and just plain pitiful :-( He did sleep the rest of the night and was doing better this morning....

so that brings us to today (Sunday). I was a little leary, but we ended up going down to Fredericksburg in hopes of getting new shoes for all the kids for school. Alyssa - no worries - her size is easy to find. Brennan & McKenna on the other hand - oh my goodness - talk about FRUSTRATION! I went in Kohls, Penney's, Sears, Foot Locker, Champs, The Shoe Dept. and Toys R Us in hopes of finding shoes for them....I finally, finally found a decent pair of TRUS, but Brennan came home empty-handed. No such luck! I admit - I'm very picky about their shoes - but he's in a size 10 which means he hasn't moved up to the "boys" shoes - he's still in "toddlers" (same for McKenna) and this makes it tough. Unless you like Spiderman or light-up shoes (which I don't - AT ALL!) - then it's hard to find anything. So to the web I will go to solve that problem!

The kids were awesome all day - including Brennan who clearly doesn't feel well. No more stomach stuff - he ate a great lunch and held it down. But he has a cold, on/off fever and some strange rash that will be investigated tomorrow at the pediatrician's office for sure. It started on his legs, next his face, then forehead, arms and stomach...and I have no clue what it is or where it came from. I'll update on that after we see the doc. During lunch at TGIFriday's, an elderly couple complimented us on having such well-behaved children - it felt sooooo good to hear that and I was so incredibly proud of my kids today. They were very well-behaved and did such a good job as we weaved our way through a gazillion stores. We treated them to a toy at TRUS at the end and Pizza Hut for dinner....which was disastrous. Not b/c of them, but b/c the service was slow, the place was a crazy mess and our food was disgusting. David swears he's never going back there and I agree! Other than that, the day was a success and we had a great time together.

Oh, oh - how could i forget the last piece of "big" news....on our way home McKenna told me her tooth was loose. Well this has been going on for a few weeks so I didn't think much of it - until she started talking really funny and drooling ... blood! She pulled and pushed on it until...out it came :-) Her 2nd lost tooth!!! I put my hand back there to get it from her and yes, as you can imagine, she dropped it on the floor...and we have yet to find it :-( SO Daddy to the rescue, he told her we'd write a note to the tooth fairy and ask her to find the tooth to which McKenna replied "yea, cuz she's so sparkly and bright so she can find it better than you?!" Oh the way a child's mind works - so cute! So that's what i did - wrote a note to the tooth fairy and it's under her pillow waiting for it to be replaced by the money. They're growing up so fast - only 6 months left as 6 year olds and if i blink too many times those 6 months will be over. It's so fun to watch them grow and it's fun having little shoppers now...but at the same time, it's sad how fast it goes. No more pullups, another lost tooth....oh what a weekend!

Dancing Monkeys

As promised, here's a video of them (attempting to) dance. It's cute!

Pretty boring week

It's been a pretty boring week so far....get up, drop kids at daycare, go to work, come home, eat, bath, get clothes/lunch ready and bed....wake up and repeat! I did have dinner with Kerry the other night - always a good time - but other than that, it's been a pretty quiet week.

Maw Maw Linda took all 3 kids to the pool yesterday - what a brave woman! Luckily - or so she thought (!!) - Miss Donna's gang would be there as well. Instead of her getting help, she ended up helping Donna and went from 3 to 5 kids (add Jayci & Megan), but in the end she had a really good time...and from what she said, a pretty darn good workout as well :-) On my end, it worked out great - the kids were good and tired and so ready for bed last night. Brennan quickly changed our plan of action this week - he was supposed to be at Maw Maw's again today, but he wanted to go back to Miss Donna's and thankfully for us, she agreed to have him today and tomorrow. The ice cream truck comes tomorrow and he's decided that he wants not 1, but 2 ice creams. We'll see about that :-)

Pretty busy weekend coming up...tomorrow night my mom and I are going to the Keith Urban concert. Saturday we're trying a new sitter so David and I can go be Tiger & Annika...yes, we're golfing again (can you say addicted?!! ha ha) Sunday we've decided will be a day totally for the kids. We will start with shopping - new shoes and an outfit for the 1st day of school - followed by lots of time at FunLand. I'm sure we'll get lots of smile and laughter out of them...while we quickly empty our wallets at this place :-) O'well - it'll be worth it and I'll have pics to share after we're done.

Time for a quick snack and then it's off to bed...G'night!